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■V AND THE HISTORY OF ^ 
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LIBRARY "' CONGRESS 
 Two Cooies Rwpived 
 AUG 8 1904 
 
 Cnpyrleht tntrv 
 CLASS a- XXo. No. 
 
 8"^ + 8' i= 
 
 COPY S 
 
 t 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1!I04 
 
 All Rights Reserved, 
 
 BY 
 J. L. POST, 
 ST, LOUIS. 
 
^ 
 
 
 
^ PREFACE ^ 
 
 IN the late summer of 1854, U. S. Grant hav- 
 ing resigned a captaincy in the regular Army 
 to be home with his family in St. Louis Conu- 
 ty; decided in order to be thoruoughly inde- 
 pendent to erect a home for himself and family. 
 
 The only material athand was the logs which he 
 hewed from the for est on the land owned by him. 
 He set to work with a will and determination that 
 the world at that time was not aware he possessed, 
 and the humble log cabin in which he and his fam- 
 ily spent so many happy years, was soon finished. 
 For fifty years it has remained almost buried 
 from public view in an out of the way place in St. 
 Louis County. Neither the patriotism of the Gov- 
 ernment, nor that of the individual citizens, has ever 
 prompted them to inaugurate any public movement 
 toward preserving this historic relic; until a gentle- 
 man, one of St. Louis' foremost citizens and active 
 in all public enterprises, decided that if no one else 
 would do so, he would personally preserve for fut- 
 ure generations; this monument to one of America's 
 greatest soldiers and statesmen; a monument built 
 by his own handsand to the preserver of this his- 
 toric relic, Mr. C. F. Blanke, this book is respectful- 
 ly dedicated. 
 
 JAS. L. POST. 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES. 
 
 NTRODUCTORY. 
 
 That "there is a destiny that shapes our ends, 
 rough hew tliem as we may," was never more strik- 
 ingly illustrated than in the life of Ulysses S. 
 Grant. 
 
 Coming from a family of soldiers, one of his an- 
 cestors having held commissions in the English 
 Army in the war against the French and the In- 
 dians, and later his grandfather in a Connecticut 
 company of the Continental Army, participating in 
 the battle of Bunker Hill and serving throughout 
 the entire Revolutionary War. The other members 
 of the families of his ancestors ever moving west- 
 ward and opening up new countries, braving the 
 dangers of the pioneer, each carving out his own 
 career without the aid or assistance of others ; it is 
 only natural that he should have inherited a taste 
 for military life. 
 
 His parents, Jesse R. Grant and Hannah Simp- 
 son, were married in June, 1821, and on April 27, 
 1822 at Point Pleasant, Clermont county, Ohio, a 
 son was born. 
 
 Like all proud parents they doubtless indulged in 
 the laudable ambition that this, their first son, 
 Ulysses S. Grant, would some day be a great man 
 (every fond parent has done this since the world 
 began and will continue to do so until the end of 
 time), but little did they picture to themelves as 
 that tiny bit of humanity was ushered into the 
 arena of life that on that day, began a career that 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 
 
 was destined to be one of the most eventful of 
 America's Great Men. 
 
 Much has been written about Grant and his mili- 
 tary and political achievements, but in this book it 
 is proposed to give some insight into the traits of 
 character which were known to his personal ac- 
 quaintances while he was an humble citizen of St. 
 Louis, attracting no especial attention in the little 
 community in which he lived and attracting none 
 whatever from the world at large, that same world 
 which a few years later riveted their eyes upon him, 
 watching his slightest move. 
 
 That a prophet is not without honor save in his 
 own country, is called to mind by one of the anec- 
 dotes in this book. When those who knew him in 
 St. Louis, upon reading of a decisive victory in one 
 of the battles under the direction of U. S. Grant, in- 
 quired of each other, "Could this be the same Grant 
 that we knew here in St. Louis tliat seemed so good 
 for nothing?" 
 
 Grant, like all great men, was modest. He talked 
 little of himself or his family, evidently believing 
 that those who are continually talking about their 
 family tree are merely dead branches, and the best 
 part of the tree is underground. Grant preferred 
 to make his own record, and for that reason had a 
 natural distaste to asking favors of others. He 
 preferred a home life in company with his family, 
 to the life of a soldier for which he had been 
 educated at West Point, but several times was 
 compelled on account of his seeming lack of bus- 
 ness ability to succeed in domestic pursuits to 
 
10 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 rejoiu tlie army; in fact his early career is one 
 recital of resignations and enlistments and app>lica- 
 tions f<^r fnrlonghs, in order to Ix^, if possible, AVith 
 his family; but always winding up as a soldier, the 
 only career for which he seemed to be fitted by na- 
 ture. 
 
 His early education was confined to the primitive 
 subscription schools of his home village in George- 
 town, except during the winters of 1836-7 and 1838- 
 9. The former period was spent at a school in 
 Maysville, Kentucky, and the latter at a private 
 school in Ifipley, Ohio. He received his apoint- 
 ment to West Point in 1839. Graduated from West 
 Point in 1843, and his first service was at Jefferson 
 Barracks, Missouri, in 1844. 
 
 In May of the same year his regiment was trans- 
 ferred to Louisiana .In May 1845 he procured a 
 leave of absence for twenty days and visited St. 
 Louis. In his Personal Memoirs he seems to have 
 forgotten that Ohio was on the map and seemed to 
 think that there was only one spot in the universe 
 that got the direct rays of the sun and that was St. 
 Louis. This was perhaps due to the fact that St. 
 Louis was the home of a very charming young lady 
 to whom he was afterwards married on the twenty- 
 second of August, 1848. 
 
 Near the close of the short session of Congress, 
 1844-5, the bill for the annexation of Texas to the 
 United States was passed. It reached President 
 Tyler on the first of March, 1845, and promptly re- 
 ceived his approval. On hearing this news the regi- 
 ment immediately expected trouble and anxiously 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 11 
 
 waited "furtlier orders." The oi'deis not luaterial- 
 iziiig, Lieut. Grant asked for and obtained on May 
 the tirst, a lea^e of absence for twenty days for the 
 purpose of visiting- St. Louis. 
 
 In July, 1845, the long looked for orders were re- 
 ceived and his regiment was transferred to New 
 Orleans. In September, 1845, the regiment left 
 for Corpus Christi. Wlien the entire "Army of 
 Occupation" had assembled at Corpus Christi it 
 consisted of alM)ut 3,000 men in all, General Zach- 
 ary Taylor in command. 
 
 In 1859 U. S. Grant, afterAvards the distinguished 
 General and President of the United States, applied 
 to the Commissioners of St. Louis County for the 
 appointment of County Surveyor. In a note to the 
 editor of the Missouri Republican dated February' 
 26, 1881, Honorable John F, Darby gives the fol- 
 lowing account of this episode in Grant's career: 
 
 "In your obituary notice of Henry B. Belt, 
 Esquire, in this morning's '^ Republican'^ in speak- 
 ing of the deceased, among other things you say : 
 'He was one of the judges of the County Court from 
 1854 to 1856, and was one of the two judges that 
 voted favorably on the application of U. S. Grant 
 for the appointment of County Surveyor. The oth- 
 er judge was Phil. Lanliam.' 
 
 "You have been misled in the above statement. 
 It is entirely untrue. U. S. Grant never applied 
 to the County Court for the appointment of County 
 Suiweyor. 
 
 "In 1859, after the County Court of St. Louis 
 County had been abolished by the Legislature for al- 
 
12 PERSONAL REMINIbCENCES 
 
 leged misroiiduct and a. new Conrt established by 
 law for St. Louis County, called the County Com- 
 missioners' Court, composed of Liohtner, Taussig, 
 Farrar, Easton and Tippet, U. 8. (irant did apply 
 to the County Commissioners' Court for the ap- 
 pointment of Surveyor of the roads, etc., in St. 
 Louis County against Mr. Solomon. 
 
 "I with other gentlemen advocated Grant's claim. 
 Solomon was appointed by the vote of Taussig, 
 Lightner and Farrar and Tippet and Easton voted 
 for Grant, consequently Belt and Lanham were not 
 on the bench and never voted upon anv application 
 by U. S. Grant. 
 
 "The records of the St. Louis County Commis- 
 sioners' Court show this.'' 
 
 On January 29, 1864, a dinner was given to Major 
 General U. S. Grant at the Lindell Hotel at which 
 there were three hundred guests. 
 
 Judge Samuel Treat, of the United States Court 
 presided, assisted by ^Messrs. John O' Fallon, Way- 
 man Crow, Adolphus ]Meier, Judge Samuel Reber, 
 Jas. Archer, Geo. R. Taylor, Barton Aliel, as vice- 
 presidents. 
 
 Among the military guests were Major General 
 Schofield, Brigadier Generals Jas. Totten, John B. 
 Gray, John McNeil, E. B. Brown, Clinton B. Fisk, 
 A. G. Edwards. 
 
 Some of the notable events in the career of U. S. 
 Grant were: 
 
 The presentation of his diploma by General Scott 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 13 
 
 at West Point in 1843. 
 
 His direction of the bombardment, from the 
 tower of Chapultepec, August 13, 1847. 
 
 The drilling of volunteers in 1861. 
 
 The battle of Fort Donelson, February 12-16, 
 1862. 
 
 The battle of Shiloh, April 6-7, 1862. 
 
 The siege of Yicksburg, May to July 1863. 
 
 Battle of Chattanooga, November 23-25, 1863. 
 
 His appointment, by Abraham Lincoln, as Com- 
 mander-in-Chief of the Army, March 12, 1864. 
 
 The surrender of General Lee at Appomattox, 
 April 9, 1865. 
 
 His election to the Presidency of the United 
 States, 1868, and re-election in 1872. 
 
 The pattern of the cart in which Madam Chou- 
 teau and family were seated when old Riviere drove 
 them from Fort Chartres to Cahokia, Laclede rid- 
 ing alongside, to make their visit to yet unplanted 
 St. Louis, is identical with that in which ex-Captain 
 U. S. Grant used to drive his load of wood from 
 Dent's place in Carondelet to St. Louis. — Extract 
 from Manners and Customs of Early St. Louis. 
 
 Another example of Grant's modesty, showing how 
 little was known of him, is a copy of the Daily Mis- 
 souri Republican, published in St. Louis on Wed- 
 nesday, March 30, 1864. Ten years prior to this 
 U. S. Grant at that time a veteran of the Mexican 
 war, lived in St. Louis County with his family and 
 not having the ready money with which to buy a 
 
14 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 liome or have one built, was obliged to hew the logs 
 with which he built the now historic log cabin which 
 stands on Art Hill in the World's Fair grounds in 
 Forest Park. He sold wood cut from the forest on 
 his land in the county to prominent residents of St. 
 Louis, hauling the wood to St. Louis himself, and 
 his traits of character were such that he made 
 friends with all of those with whom he came in con- 
 tact. 
 
 Ten years later, 1864, the DaUy Missouri Repuh- 
 Z/cftu heads an article of four columns: 
 LIEUT. GENERAL GRANT. 
 
 TN'e have been favored by an intimate personal 
 friend of Lieut. General Grant with the subjoined 
 authentic biographical sketch of that distinguished 
 officer, whose brilliant and signal services during 
 the past 3 ear have raised him so rapidly, as well, as 
 deservedly to his present exalted position. As com- 
 paratively few of his countrymen are acquainted 
 with the earlier antecedents of his life, a curiosity 
 inspired as well by his recent achievements as his 
 present distinguished rank and great responsibili- 
 ties, will impart a deep and wide interest to the 
 memoir of the illustrious soldier, which we have 
 the pleasure to give below. (Following this is an 
 article on General Grant, which article we do not 
 reproduce for lack of space. ) 
 
 GENERAL GRANT'S LOG CABIN. 
 
 Amidst the architectural splendors and the pala- 
 tial structures of the greatest of all AYorld's Fairs, 
 the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, and surround- 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 15 
 
 ed by trees at the very top of Art Uill and at the 
 heaci of the Cascades, stands in all its original sim- 
 plicity the plain log cabin erected by General U. S. 
 Grant in 185-4, and whicli was his home for many 
 years. 
 
 little did he think at the time he was forced to 
 build this log cabin to shelter his family that in a 
 few short years he would be one of the most talked 
 of men in the world, and doubtless little dreamed 
 that he would be tendered the highest ofiice within 
 the gift of the American people. There is a great 
 object lesson in this humble log cabin for the young 
 man of to-day, who thinks his lot in life is hard 
 and sees little promise of ever rising above his pres- 
 ent surroundings and is prone to become discour- 
 aged and disheartened, for if he will look at this 
 cabin and think of the man who built it and lived 
 in it barely able to earn enough to provide for his 
 family it gives him encouragement to fight on with 
 the hope that he may some day make his mark in the 
 world. 
 
 There is some good in every man, some spark of 
 genius which in the majority of cases is not discov- 
 ered for the reason that the whole human family are 
 subjects of heredity and environment. 
 
 Chance has made nmny a hero, but he must have 
 the making of a hero in him to take advantage of 
 that chance when it is offered. 
 
 This little log cabin has been lying in St. Louis 
 County for 50 years unnoticed by the general pub- 
 lic, because it was hidden away h\ trees and far 
 from the roadway. Neither the patriotism of the 
 
Copyrigfht, Tabor-Prang Art Co. 
 Reproduced by permission. 
 
16 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 American ])('(>pl(\ nor the patriotisni of tlu^ (Jeveru- 
 ment ever prompted any action towards preservinu' 
 this historii- i clicjuit it occni red to one of St. Lonis" 
 most prominent citizens, Mr. (\ V. Hhmke, to pur- 
 chase the caltin on his own personal account and 
 after tlie V:\\v is over pi-esent it to the city of St. 
 Louis, on condition tliat tlu\v jtreserve it as a his- 
 toric relic. 
 
 The cabin is one of tiie tirst ]K»ints loitked for by 
 visitors and long after the palatial structures of the 
 Worhl's Fair will have been torn down ami linger 
 but as a memory in the minds of the people this 
 humble home of the statesman soldier will still 
 stand on Art II ill as a nn)nument built by one of 
 America's greatest as well as humblest citizens. 
 
 The com]>iler and i»nblisher wishes to thank the 
 gentlemen who so kindly furnished the anecdotes 
 that follow, and the reader will be well repaid by 
 studying carefully each cme of them. Each of these 
 distinguished gentlemen has told his story in his 
 own peculiar style, and over his autograph, and 
 each one of these gentlemen was a personal friend 
 of General (Jrant. 
 
 J. L. P. 
 
\ 
 
 OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 
 
 17 
 
 \ 
 
 Johnson. 
 
 Born in Lebanon, St. Clair 
 County Illinois, Jan. 18, 1836. 
 His father Henry Johnson was 
 a native of Pennsylvania and 
 his mother whose maiden name 
 was Elvira Foulke, was born 
 in Kaskaskia Illinois and saw 
 much of frontier life 
 As a yuung man, Chas. P. Johnson received his early edu- 
 cation in the Belleville public schools. To the culture of his 
 mother was due to a very great extent, the excellencies of his 
 mental as well as his moral character. At an early age, he 
 learned the printers trade and published in his 18th year, a 
 paper in Sparta, Illinois. He disposed of this enterprise in 
 1854 and attended McKendree college at Lebanon, Illinois. 
 
 In 1855 he removed to St. Louis, and in 1857 was ad- 
 mitted to the bar. Political contests at this time were ex- 
 ceedingly bitter, and his opinions threw him into the ranks 
 of the Free Soil Party, of which he became a recognized 
 leader, in company with Francis P. Blair and other intrepid 
 men. 
 
 In 1859 Mr. Johnson was elected City Attorney. In 1860 
 he advocated the election of Lincoln to the Presidency, and 
 in 1861, when the war broke out, espoused the cause of the 
 Union, and by his eloquence and influence greatly strength- 
 ened the cause of the Anti-Secession Leaders in St. Louis. 
 He enlisted under the first call for troops, was elected Lieu- 
 tenant, and served for three months in the Third Missouri 
 Regiment. He then assisted in raising the Eighth Missouri 
 Regiment, and personally tendered the services of that organ- 
 ization to President Lincoln. He was tendered the Major- 
 ship of the regiment, but declined it on account of delicate 
 
18 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 health. 
 
 In 1862 he was nominated for Congress, which honor he 
 declined, but accepted a candidacy on the Legislative ticket 
 (on account of his interest in state laws), to which oflBce he 
 was elected. Again in 1865 he was re-elected to the Legis- 
 lature by a large majority, serving until 1866, when he ac- 
 cepted the appointment of State's Attorney for the City and 
 County of St. Louis, which position he filled for six years 
 in a manner that gained for him universal approbation and laid 
 the foundation for his subsequent brilliant career at the bar. 
 In 1872 he was nominated for Lieutenant Governor on the 
 joint Democratic and Liberal Republican state ticket, and was 
 elected. During his term as Lieutenant Governor he became 
 noted for his remarkable ability as a parliamentarian, being 
 one of the few presidents from whose decisions no appeal 
 was ever taken. 
 
 At the expiration of his term he resumed the practice of 
 law until the prevalence of public gambling became so ob- 
 noxious that he determined to suppress the evil, if possible, 
 and for that purpose again became a member of the Legis- 
 lature. In 1880 he introduced and secured the passage of 
 the now famous Johnson Gambling Law, making gambling a 
 felony. 
 
 Governor Johnson's reputation is not confined to the courts 
 of this city, but he is known throughout the country, and 
 has frequently been sent for to take charge or cases coming 
 up in courts in the far Western as well as Eastern states. 
 His reputation is nationsl, and as an orator he stands second 
 to none. As a prosecutor he was rarely known to lose a 
 case, but being of a sympathetic nature, always followed up 
 the cases where he secured a conviction, and after having 
 convicted his man and satisfied the law would make sev- 
 eral personal appeals, if necessary, to the Governor of the 
 state in order to have the sentence commuted to <a term in 
 the penitentiary. It is said that of all the convictions he se- 
 cured there was but one instance where he was unable to 
 persuade the Governor to commute the sentence. 
 
 Governor Johnson is at his best when pleading for the de- 
 fense, and the manner in which he can sway a jury is almost 
 hypnotic. 
 
 General U. S. Grant was the hero of the war for 
 
^ 
 
 OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 19 
 
 the preservation of the Republic, during which he 
 achieved immortal fame. 
 
 One of his strongest traits, hoAvever, as shown 
 throughout his marvelous career, was his simplicity 
 of character and freedom from ostentation, vanity 
 and egotism. 
 
 In heart at least he was a child of nature and 
 what I here relate I think will go far to verify my 
 statement. 
 
 I became acquainted with General Grant when he 
 was a partner of Mr. Henry Boggs in the real estate 
 business. Mr. Boggs was a cousin of Mrs. Grant's. 
 Their office was on Pine street, on the north side, in 
 the city of St. Louis, between Second and Third 
 streets. I had been a student for a time in the of- 
 fice of Sloss & Jones, attorneys-at-law, in an office 
 in the adjoining building to the west, and had for 
 my sleeping apartment a hall room in the building 
 in which the firm of Boggs & Grant was located. 
 In fact my apartment adjoined their office on the 
 second floor. The law firm of Moody, McClellan & 
 Hillyer was in the front room on the lower floor. 
 Mr. Hillyer of that firm was afterwards appointed 
 on the staff of General Grant, shortly after the 
 commencement of the war. 
 
 General Grant never made a dollar as a real 
 estate agent, and during the time he was in the 
 business made his application to the County 
 Commissioners of St. Louis for the position as 
 Superintendent of County Roads. In referring to 
 his failure to procure the appointment, he says, 
 "My opponent had the advantage of birth over me 
 
20 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 (he >\as a citizen In- adoption) and cari'ied off the 
 prize." He withdrew from the partnersliip with 
 Boijji^s in INIay, 1860, and removed to Galena, Illi- 
 nois, where he took a clerkship in his father's store. 
 
 During his stay in the building referred to I met 
 him frequently and though he was silent and taci- 
 turn in manner I soon became on talking terms with 
 him. In conversation he was both pleasant, interest- 
 ing and instructive. His former connection with the 
 army and service in the Mexican war afforded a 
 field for conversation of absorbing interest to me. 
 The exciting campaigns of Generals Scott and Tay- 
 lor were part of my boyhood recollections. 
 
 At the time I speak of General Grant was a great 
 smoker, using both cigars and pipe. He would oc- 
 casionally during the summer evenings sit on the 
 steps in front of his office building and smoke and 
 chat on various subjects of passing importance. 
 Right across the street was a cigar store kept by a 
 thin, sharp visaged little German, whose complex- 
 ion was yellow enough to remind one of a shriveled 
 and dried up leaf of Virginia plant. 
 
 He was good natured, quiet, talkative and af- 
 forded his customers a good deal of amusement by 
 the novel manner in which he constructed sentences 
 and pronounced the English language. General 
 Grant was a customer at the shop and keenly en- 
 joyed a talk with him. 
 
 The janitress of the building was a negro aunty 
 of the old slave school, who dressed as such and 
 always Avore a red bandana handkerdiief around 
 her head. She was as kind and good a creature 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 21 
 
 as ever lived. She occupied a rear apartment at 
 the end of a long porch on the lower floor of the 
 building with her husband, a grizzled old negro, 
 who had worked and purchased his freedom and 
 was still at work driving a dray. 
 
 Everybody in the building and in fact all who 
 knew her had a kind word and an affectionate feel- 
 ing for the old aunty. When the chilling days of 
 frost, snow and ice came she always had a huge 
 boiler of coffee boiling on the stove and stood on 
 watch to catch each of her wards (for she seemed 
 to think we were all under her special care) and 
 greet them with, "Come chile, you need a cup of hot 
 coffee to keep away de cold." 
 
 Many, many years have run away since then, but 
 I never revert to those student days without a 
 "God bless you" for old aunty. There were other 
 personages about the building and in the locality 
 that attracted attention, and were known to Gen- 
 eral Grant, but as stated above General Grant 
 abandoned the real estate business, bid farewell to 
 his Pine street and other associates, shook the dust 
 of Missouri from his feet and located in Illinois, 
 and it was well he did so, as after events proved.. 
 
 In 1861 tlie Civil War was precipitated upon the 
 country. The conflict lasted for over four years. In 
 that time the United States was the arena for the 
 greatest struggle in behalf of human liberty that 
 ever occurred in the history of mankind. There 
 was no contest like unto it, either ancient or mod- 
 ern. Its grandeur and magnitude are still but par- 
 tially understood. It was an era of heroic achieve- 
 
22 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 ments beyond the powers of the greatest of epic 
 poets to appropriately immortalize. 
 
 The historian has not yet appeared, who can do 
 justice to the lofty theme. In that period of mighty 
 events, General Grant stands out as the great un- 
 equaled leader of the armies of the nation. The 
 arbitriment was left to the sword and from the 
 humble position of clerk at Galena General Grant 
 went to Springfield, Illinois, the home of Abraham 
 Lincoln, and took up the sword. With it he mar- 
 shalled first the legions of the West, and then the 
 legions of both the West and the East, those of the 
 entire nation and from Belmont to Appomattox, 
 through the bewildering and bloody vicissitudes of 
 war he bore the sword and led the nation's hosts to 
 triumph and victory. The halo of an unrivaled and 
 unequaled glory crowned him, when the mighty 
 warrior of the South surrendered his sword at Ap- 
 pomattox. 
 
 I did not meet General Grant after parting with 
 him on Pine street until a day or two prior to the 
 Fourth of July, 1865. Since that time his achieve- 
 ments as referred to had exalted him to the highest 
 pinnacle of glory in the hearts of his countrymen, 
 and the estimation of the world. I was in the city 
 of Washington in company with Mr. Peter L. Foy, 
 a former editor of the Missouri Democrat, and an 
 ardent friend at all times of the Union cause. He 
 suggested that it was our duty, as St. Louisa ns, to 
 visit and pay our respects to General Grant. We 
 called at his residence on Pennsylvania avenue and 
 were ushered into the parlor. It was a gala day in 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 
 
 Washington. It was a day of rejoicing there and 
 throughout the entire North. The war was ended. 
 From out the highway there came the notes of 
 martial music, the rattling and rumbling of long- 
 lines of artillery, the clattering noise of cavalry 
 and the measured tramp of thousands of returning 
 veterans. Flags and bunting fluttered from every 
 house and inspiring scenes were presented on every 
 side. 
 
 In a short time General Grant came in. He was 
 plainly dressed in citizens' clothes, his favorite 
 black frock coat was adorned only with a small 
 stripe, golden lined, and having thereon the soli- 
 tary star which marked the highest position in the 
 army. 
 
 He first addressed Mr. Foy and shook his hand 
 heartily ; he had seen Mr. Foy a few months before 
 and knew him quite well. He then addressed me. 
 and after looking at me for a moment remarked : 
 "I think I know you. You were a student of law in 
 St. Louis when I was one of the firm of Boggs & 
 Grant." "You are right. General, there is where 
 we met." "Well, I am very glad to meet you. Come 
 and sit on the lounge here and tell me something 
 about the old crowd." I sat down and for nearly an 
 hour he talked with interest and animation about 
 the various personages he had met in and around 
 the old office on Pine street. With very apparent 
 feeling he asked about the old aunty and her hus- 
 band, and when I told him she had been gathered 
 to her long rest a year or two before, he expressed 
 his sorrow and eulogized her for her many kind and 
 
24 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 amiable qualities. Nor was the old German tobac- 
 conist forgotten, and lie quietly laughed when re- 
 ferring- to his humorous characteristics. From this 
 he branched off into some recollections of life in St. 
 Louis, but resumed again as we parted to his mem- 
 ories of the old aunty. During the entire conver 
 sation his mind seemed centered upon the recollec- 
 tions connected with the Pine street office and the 
 characters to which I have alluded. He seemed to 
 deeply enjoy the retrospect. I thought then, and 
 I think now that this incident afforded an admir- 
 able illustration of one of the strongest traits of 
 General Grant's character. 
 
 Occupying the most exalted position that glori- 
 ous achievements could place him in, and surround- 
 ed by all the pomp and circumstances of war, yet in 
 the simplicity of his nature he turned with pleasure 
 to his kindly recollections of one of the most hum- 
 ble of God's creatures. 
 
 General Grant was dowered with a great mind, 
 he had withal a great heart. 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 
 
 25 
 
 BIEfAnOUS GRANT CABIN CmNGES ftWS. 
 
 I fostSoted Bouse about Htfflouis to be PRESERVED 
 TOTME PUBLIC ior all Mime. 
 
 C. F. BLANKE BUYS 
 
 HISTORIC STRUCTURE. 
 
 General Grant Built It On The 
 
 Old Gravois Road in 1854. 
 
 His Life As a St. Louis 
 
 County Farmer.— ^The Preservation 
 Of His Humble Home.-^ — The Cabin 
 
 Now at Old Orchard Will be Taken 
 
 To Forest Park Grant Called It, 
 
 The "Hardscrabble House" 
 
 The most famous log cabin in the world has just 
 been bought by C. F. Blanke, of St. Louis, and 
 will be preserved in Forest Park as a sacred relic of 
 American history. It is the log house that Gen. 
 Grant built. 
 
 Gen. Grant's log cabin, built by his own hands on 
 the old Kidge road, nine miles southwest of St. 
 Louis, when the ex-army officer was a struggling 
 
26 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 farmer in 1855, and occupied by Grant and his fam- 
 ily for three years, will stand next year in the 
 World's Fair grounds, dwarfing in popular interest 
 the magnificent palaces of the Exposition. From 
 all countries, from all climes ^^'ill come pilgrims 
 to this shrine, to honor the memory of one of his- 
 tory's greatest warriors. 
 
 Around this old log house cluster associations 
 unsurpassed for intense romantic and dramatic in- 
 terest. They comprise situations of the sort that 
 enchant and thrill. They stir the depths and touch 
 the heights of human feeling. This cabin is the 
 central setting of a mighty picture that is unique 
 in history. 
 
 To-day a man in early middle age, bowed by toil 
 and broken by disappointments, builds a humble 
 log house to shelter his little family. He is pro- 
 nounced a failure in life by family and friends. 
 
 To-morrow the same man, "lord of a far-flung 
 battle line," is chief of all the annies of the greatest 
 republic of all time, controlling absolutely the 
 movements of a million men, fighting and winning 
 battles along a line a thousand miles in length. He 
 is pronounced one of the greatest of modern gen- 
 erals. He commands the greatest army that ever 
 existed, almost twice as big as the one Napoleon 
 took into Russia. 
 
 From "Hardscrabble" to the AVhite House was a 
 matter of l)ut ten years. From the cabin to a 
 major-generalship it was a span of but three years. 
 Nine years after (xrant's hands hewed the logs for 
 the house and lifted them into place, and six years 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 27 
 
 after he moved out of the cabin, those same hands 
 accepted from President Abraham Lincoln a com- 
 mission as lieutenant-general of the armies of the 
 United States, a rank revived by special act of Con- 
 gress in order that the victorious general might be 
 elevated thereto and thus be in a povsition to com- 
 mand every army in tlie tield, throwing men by hun- 
 dreds of thousands against the enemy, from Texas 
 to the Maryland shove, and crushing the great re- 
 bellion. 
 
 And the cabin built by that disappointed farmer 
 and victorious general is the one that has stood for 
 nearly fifty years within nine miles of the St. Louis 
 courthouse and which last week was transferrecf 
 from Edward Joy of Old Orchard to Mr. Blanke. 
 
 Napoleon used to tell how, when a young soldier, 
 he walked the pavements of Paris with his shoes in 
 shocking condition and was compelled to stand off 
 his waslierwoman for want of funds ; liut that was 
 merely for an insignificant period in the conquer- 
 or's career. Napoleon kne^^' but little of the sting 
 of poverty. 
 
 Ulysses S. Grant knew all its bitterness, through 
 long, tedious, soul-sickening years of struggle. For 
 seven years he lived in St. Louis County, in the 
 city of St. Louis and at Galena, 111., feeling every 
 day the pinch of pover-ty and stooping under the 
 struggle to make a living. 
 
 Something of this long battle with adverse con- 
 ditions was told in the ^Magazine supplement of last 
 Sunday's Post-Dlsixitdi, in the excerpts from 
 Churchill Williams' new novel of St. Louis, "The 
 
28 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 Captain/' and that story began with the picture of 
 Capt Grant hewing the logs for the building of 
 the same cabin that has now changed hands. That 
 story told, in the limitations of a fictional narra- 
 tive, something about the old log house. Now for 
 fuller facts and the story of the transfer. 
 
 In the fall of 1854, Ulysses S. Grant, having re- 
 signed from the army July 31 of that year, came 
 to St. Louis by way of Georgetown, O., his father's 
 home. A graduate of West Point, he had received 
 a lieutenant's commission and had fought bravely 
 through the Mexican War. Married in 1848 to 
 Miss Julia Dent, who li^ed out on Gravois road be- 
 loAV St. Louis, he had served at several army posts. 
 From Sackett's Harbor, N. Y., he had been sent to 
 far Fort Vancouver, on the northern Pacific coast, 
 and thence to Fort Humboldt, Cal., 240 miles above 
 San Francisco. 
 
 His pay as an army oificer was small — much less 
 than officers of the same rank receive to-day. He 
 could not take his wife and little son, now Gen. 
 Frederick Dent Grant, around the Horn to his dis- 
 tant post. He sent Mrs. Grant and the child to his 
 father's home in Ohio, and shortly after his depart- 
 ure a second son was born. Later Mrs. Grant and 
 her children went to live at White Haven, her birth- 
 place, the liome of Col. Frederick Dent, near this 
 city. 
 
 Above all things else, Grant was a home man. 
 He loved his family. The separation was unendur- 
 able. One day in April, 1854, he received his com- 
 mission as a captain. The same day he resigned his 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 29 
 
 commission, to take effect the last day of tlie July 
 following. Jefferson Davis, then secretary of war, 
 made the final indorsement of approval on the resig- 
 nation. 
 
 Grant started immediately to rejoin his family. 
 Always of a generous nature, he had loaned sums of 
 money to army friends and others Avhom he met 
 while in the service. At San Francisco he hoped 
 to collect enough from his debtors to carry him to 
 his wife and little ones. Those who owed him 
 evaded him. He walked the streets of San Fran- 
 cisco without a dollar. Chief Quartermaster 
 Robert Allen found him in a miserable garret room, 
 his head bowed, his face haggard and sorrowful. 
 Allen arranged for his transportation to New York, 
 and also raised suuie money to supply his daily 
 needs on the trip. 
 
 From New York he went to ^A atertown, where 
 he hired a horse and rode to Sackett's Harbor in the 
 hope of collecting enough money from other debtors 
 to bring him to St. Louis. Again he met disap- 
 pointment. He returned to New York penniless. 
 
 Capt. Simon B. Buckner, recruiting officer in New 
 York, lately a distinguished general and in 1896 
 the vice-presidential candidate on the Gold Democ- 
 racy's ticket became surety for his hotel bill. Final- 
 ly Grant received from his father a sum sufficient 
 to tak;e him to his old home in Ohio, where he seems 
 to have been received rather coldly. 
 
 The neighbors say that Jesse Grant was deeply 
 humiliated by the home-coming of his eldest son in 
 such a condition. He had boasted for years of 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 Ulysses, but now he turned to his sons, Simpson 
 and Orvil. 
 
 "West Point spoiled one of my boys for business,'' 
 he said. 
 
 "I guess that's about so," replied Ulysses, when 
 he heard of his father's remark. 
 
 Grant's mother, however, greeted him affection- 
 ately^, glad that he had left the army, and was going 
 to settle down to a career of peace. 
 
 After a brief visit with his parents. Grant came 
 to St. Louis and rejoined his family at Col. Dent's 
 home. Thirty-two 3^ears of age, with a wife and 
 two children, he had abandoned the military profes- 
 sion and its pay and was facing the future without 
 a cent. 
 
 Capt. Grant had quit the army to establish a 
 home. The wife of his youth, little Fred and the 
 boy whom he never had seen until he reached 
 White Haven and was met by his family at the gate 
 — these had lured him back to civil life. 
 
 Grant had gone to work and built the home, Col. 
 Dent setting aside a tract of about 80 acres on the 
 old home farm for his use. He did not give Grant 
 a deed to the land ; he simply, for Julia's sake, gave 
 the Mexican war veteran permission to "take it and 
 do what you can with it." Col. Dent, like Jesse 
 Grant, was not well pleased with the man who had 
 married his daughter. The colonel Avas a southern- 
 er, of considerable means, a successful, substantial 
 citizen. His son-in-law had reached his thirty-third 
 year without laying up a dollar against the future. 
 Old neighbors of the Dents still recall uncompli- 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 31 
 
 iiientary language used b}' Col. Dent in alluding to 
 Capt. Grant. 
 
 Ordinary men would be prone to sink under such 
 handicaps. ( Jrant stood erect. His wife loved and 
 honored him. Cheerfully she shared his hardships. 
 That winter and the next spring and summer the 
 ex-captain cut wood, plowed for wheat, hoed corn, 
 bound AAiieat behind the keen cradles of his father- 
 in-law's darkey slaves, and was a farmers man of 
 all work. He had worked on a farm in his boy- 
 hood, and while stationed on the Pacific coast, he 
 had raised a large crop of potatoes, in the hope of 
 making some money for his family. Potatoes were 
 selling at ^[) per luisiiel when he planted his crop. 
 When he dug the tul)ers they were worthless, for 
 everybody else had raised a large crop, and Grant 
 paid some men to haul the potatoes out of his way. 
 There were other agricultural disappointments to 
 come. 
 
 In the late fall of 1854, the haiwest over. Grant 
 began the work of cutting trees from which to hew 
 the timbers of the log house that has now been sold. 
 He worked early and late. Oak and elm fell before 
 his onslaught. He fought it out on that line all the 
 fall, and at last was ready for "the raisin'." There 
 are many venerable citizens of St. Louis who recall, 
 with fond recollection, the house-raisings of those 
 old days. Such neighborhood functions were of fre- 
 quent occurrence, and yet not so frequent as to lose 
 their charm. When the pioneer had hewed his logs 
 and hauled them to the site of his future home he 
 went through the countryside notifying his neigh- 
 
32 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 bors that upon a certain day "the raisiu' " wouki 
 take place. Bright and early came the neighbors, 
 to assist the house-builder in raising the timbers 
 into place. There was a dinner spread on th<? 
 ground, and hard cider and ginger cakes kept the 
 workers cheerful. 
 
 GKANT GAVE A LIFT AT HIS HOUSE- 
 RAISING. 
 
 Grant's house-raising was no whit different from 
 the others in its immediate aspect ; but in its histor- 
 ical significance it was vastly different. The neioh- 
 bors, that autumn day who stood at the corners, 
 Grant standing at one corner, and heaved the hewn 
 logs into their position, had high respect for "the 
 captain," because he was known to them as a vet- 
 eran of the jNIexican war, and as a former officer of 
 the regular army. They respected him also be- 
 cause he was a hard worker, like themselves, and 
 a good family man. They liked him for his manly 
 qualities. 
 
 But those men at the house-raising reserved their 
 thrill for six or seven years thereafter, when the 
 man who had stood at the left-hand front corner 
 of the log cabin during the raising had passed 
 Sliiloh and Donelson and Vicksburg, and "the cap- 
 tain" was wearing the double star of a major-gen- 
 eral, whose name was applauded by millions. 
 
 It required a day to place the logs. Grant then 
 laid the floors and helped a carpenter to fit the win- 
 dow frames. He also did the greater part of the 
 shingling, and built the stairway that leads to the 
 two big, low rooms in the gal)le loof. 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 33 
 
 When the house was completed, Grant moved his 
 family into it. His father-in-law's big white house, 
 a mansion in those days, bore a name of its own. 
 Grant i>ave his cabin a distinctive name. 
 
 "We'll call it Hardscrabble," he said, probably 
 wondering how the master of White Haven would 
 like the name. 
 
 And it was hard scrabbling for Grant during the 
 next few years. He was a tireless worker. He 
 plowed and planted, he sowed and reaped. He hoed 
 when days were dry and hammered when it rained. 
 
 There were other farmers in the neighborhood 
 who piled up much wood cut in clearing land and 
 burnt it. Grant was more economical. He cut his 
 trees into cord wood and liauled the product by the 
 wagon load into St. Louis and sold it. Much of it 
 he cut into props for the lead mines many miles 
 south of his farm and hauled to that district, where 
 he sold it. 
 
 Ulysses S. Grant was a teamster. He owned two 
 excellent horses, which he had purchased through 
 Charles Ford, at that time manager of the United 
 States Express Company's office in St. Louis. The 
 animals were strong and reliable, and Grant made 
 pets of them. He was kind to his team, say his 
 neighbors, and they cheerfully pulled bigger loads 
 than any horses in the section were able to do. 
 
 Once Grant hauled 60 bushels of whea^t into St. 
 Louis at a load. Old Mr. Sappington, a neighbor, 
 told Grant he had heard that story, but didn't be- 
 lieve it. Grant offered to pit his team against Sap- 
 ington's. "We'll both load on 60 bushels," he said, 
 
34 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 "and if I get to St. Louis witlioiit other aid and you 
 don't, the two h)ads are mine. If you get tliere 
 without aid and I don't, tlie 120 bnsliels are yours." 
 
 Sappington smiled and said," Well, cap'n, I don't 
 see how you do it." 
 
 Tliere was no false pride about Ulysses S. Grant. 
 Clad in his old blue army overcoat and his high 
 army boots, which lasted him ten years after his 
 resignation from the army, he used to haul wood to 
 Jefferson Barracks, where as a young brevet lieu- 
 tenant he had shone in society and from which 
 he had ridden out on his fine horse to court Col. 
 Dent's daughter. At the barracks he sometimes 
 met old army associates, ^^'ho sneered at the shab- 
 by-looking farmer. Grant appeared not to notice 
 the sneers. He was trying to make a living for his 
 family. In the big log cabin was a busy housewife 
 surrounded Ijy her children, and that was home — 
 something he never knew Avhen he was in the army. 
 
 "Hardscrabble" was a haven of rest during the 
 long winter evenings. Neighbors came in and 
 played checkers with the captain, who it is said, 
 nearly always won. A little later he played with 
 like success up a vastly larger checkerboard. In 
 those days of hard and humble life he was learn- 
 ing to do and to endure; he was being disciplined 
 for a greater game. 
 
 Thus life went on, a humdrum life except for the 
 wife and babies ; gru))bing, hoeing, hauling, Grant 
 began to grow old, ai)parently. He permitted his 
 beard to grow, so that lie looked much older than 
 he was. I'erhaps he felt old. It is known that he 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 35 
 
 made but little headway in his farming and that he 
 was deeply discouraged, but he made little com- 
 plaint. A slight stoop appeared in his shoulders. 
 His old military clothes became shabbier and shab- 
 bier. His family had food, for food was plentiful 
 and cheap, and the house was kept warm in winter 
 by heaps of wood in the big old-fashioned fireplaces 
 at each end of the cabin ; but Grant's health failed ; 
 he caught chills and fever and grew sallow, and 
 seeing nothing in prospect but the same sort of pa- 
 tient, pitiless, uuremuuerative toil, he was almost 
 beaten; almost, but not quite. That was not 
 Grant's way. 
 
 His more prosperous fellow farmers began to 
 refer to him as a failure. "He can't succeed at 
 farming," they said; "why, he couldn't even raise 
 potatoes when he was in the army." 
 
 Old Col. Dent shared this opinion. He was deep- 
 ly disappointed in his son-in-law. In 1857 Mrs. 
 Dent died, and Col. Dent removed to St. Louis. 
 Capt. Grant was placed in charge of White Haven, 
 moving out of the dear old cabin, "Hardscrabble." 
 He was in control of the negro slaves. A historian 
 of the period says: "He was a poor slave-driver, 
 however; the negroes did pretty much as they 
 pleased." 
 
 Late in 1858, racked with the ague, he gave up 
 farming and determined to get a foothold in St. 
 Louis. ' Col. Dent, doubtless agreeing with Ulysses 
 in this change, secured for him a partnership with 
 Harry Boggs in the real estate business, the firm 
 of Boggs vi Grant having desk room in a dingy of- 
 
36 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 fice on Pine street, between Second and Third 
 streets. Grant boarded with the Boij;j»ses, leaving 
 his family at the farm for the winter. 
 
 But he was a failure as a real estate man. He 
 couldn't sell or rent property. He lacked the fac- 
 ulty of bartering, bargaining, cajoling customers in- 
 to doing business. Boggs soon discovered this, and 
 Grant was let down and out of the firm. Once more 
 the ex-captain was thrown upon his own resources. 
 He tried to secure the appointment as county engi- 
 neer, a position for which, by reason of his West 
 Point education, he was eminently fitted. He 
 failed. The defeat was a bitter disappointment. 
 
 Meanwhile he had moved his family into St. 
 Louis, having made a trade for "Hardscrabble" for 
 a house and lot on Lynch street. It was a bad trade, 
 showing that he Avas not a real estate expert. The 
 title proved defective, and he was forced to give up 
 the house, moving into one much humbler. 
 
 Grant secured a custom house clerkship. Next 
 month the collector of customs died, and Grant 
 again walked the streets looking for work. He 
 owed his landlord. He was almost at his wits' end. 
 
 "It seemed to him," says one who remembere 
 it, "that the future promised only cold and hunger 
 for him and his. He acknowledged his inability to 
 make a living in St. Louis and went to his father 
 an apparentl}^ defeated man." 
 
 His father and brothers gave him a position at a 
 salary of |50 a month in their leather store at Ga- 
 lena, and Grant was glad to get the job. That was 
 in 1860. A year later he leaped into fame and un- 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 37 
 
 dvino" glory. 
 
 Edward Joy, who has owned the Grant cabin 
 since 1891, when asked last week why he admires 
 Gen. Grant so highly, replied : 
 
 "Because Grant had the most man in him of any 
 man I ever heard of. All through his life he 
 shoA^ed the very highest qualities of manhood. He 
 would not accept Lee's sword at Appomattox, and 
 he told the surrendered Confederates to take their 
 horses and ride home and put in their crops." 
 
 Mr. Joy is now 82 years of age. He has lived 
 in the vicinity of St. Louis since 1873, engaged in 
 the real estate business. How he came to buy the 
 Grant cabin he thus explained last week : 
 
 ''In 1891 I was out driving with an old friend, 
 a lady, and we passed down the Gravois road and 
 out the old Kidge road, ^[y companion said, 'See 
 that log house out there in the woods? Gen. Grant 
 built that and lived in it.' I was interested at 
 once, and before I got back home I determined to 
 buy the house if it could be bought. Luther Conn 
 owned the Dent place and the cabin. I made him 
 an ofPer of |4,000 for the cabin. The next day he 
 came to my office and said that for |5,000 I could 
 have it. I gave him my check for |3,000 and my 
 note for the balance, at 60 days. I paid the note 
 when it became due and owned the Grant log cabin 
 absolutely. 
 
 Mr. Joy built a liigh board fence around the 
 cabin, to keep intruders away, and induced a family 
 to live in it and take care of the relic. Frank Pel- 
 soe, a mail carrier, is the present occupant. A 
 
38 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 woman from Kentucky, a member of the household, 
 who shows properly accredited visitors through the 
 wide rooms, remarked last week to the Sunday 
 Post-Dispatch : 
 
 "They say that Mr. Grant himself stood at that 
 front corner and raised the logs the day of the 
 raising. Well, I've seen a good many log houses in 
 Kentucky, where the building of them is something 
 of an art, and I must say that in my opinion, Mr. 
 Grant was a much greater warrior than he was an 
 architect." 
 
 Mr. Joy says that he understands that Gen. 
 Grant owned the cabin for some years after the 
 war and visited it. Mrs. Grant also paid a visit to 
 "Hardscrabble" after her trip around the world 
 with the general. While there, she met many old 
 friends, who were forced to acknowledge that 
 Ulysses had amounted to something, though they 
 still held that he was not much of a farmer. 
 
 Mr. Conn, from whom Mr. Joy bought the cabin, 
 purchased the estate from William H. Vanderbilt, 
 it is stated. When Ferdinand A^'ard wrecked the 
 firm of Grant & Ward in 1884, Gen. Grant turned 
 over the property to Vanderbilt, one of his largest 
 creditors. Grant remarked to Vanderbilt that he 
 did not have |100 in the world. The next year, at 
 Mount McGregor, the old warrior died, fighting 
 against adverse fortune to the very last. 
 
 Mr. Blanke, the new owner of "Hardscrabble," 
 is a W^orld's Fair director. He is arranging to re- 
 move the cabin to the Fair site and rebuild it upon 
 a location that may be permanent. He will make 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 39 
 
 a proposition to the city whereby the cabin may 
 remain in Forest Park. 
 
 ROBERTUS LOVE. 
 In Post I)isi)atcJf, March 15, 1003 
 
DKODUuaims 
 
 aa3 FIFTH .V'KNUE 
 NEW YORK 
 
 March ?P, 1904. 
 
 C. P. Blanke 
 
 St. Louis, Mo. 
 Dear Sirs; " 
 
 We beg to acknowledge with thanks the receipt 
 of the two logs you ware good enough to send us from the 
 Log Cabin built by General Grant In 1854. 
 
 This wood has been used by us In making a frame 
 for the sat of resolutions made by the Board of Trustees 
 of the St. Louis Public Library to Andrew Carnegie, Esq., 
 In acknowledgment of his donation of One Million Dollars 
 for the building of a Public Library In St. Louis. 
 Very truly yours. 
 
40 
 
 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 ^^s^K^^^^^iSS^S^vfe 
 
 GEN. JNO. W. NOBLE. 
 
 Born at Lancaster, 
 
 Ohio, Oct. 26. 1831 
 
 His father, Colonel 
 
 John Noble, was a man 
 
 of military training and was well 
 
 k no w n throughout Ohio. His 
 
 mother, whose maiden name was 
 
 Catharine McDill, was a native of 
 
 Maryland. 
 
 .John Willock Noble received his 
 earlier education In the common 
 schools St Cincinnati, afterwards 
 at Miami University, and ^ater at 
 Yale, graduating at the latter in 
 the class of 1851. 
 
 Upon his return home he studied law in the office of Henry 
 Stanbery, afterwards Attorney General of the United States. 
 He also studied law in the office of his brother, Henry C. 
 Noble, at Columbus, Ohio, was admitted to tlie bar in 1853, 
 removed to St. Louis, where he was admitted to the bar in 
 1855. In 1856 he removed to Keokuk, Iowa, and formed a co- 
 partnership with Ralph P. Lowe, who was afterwards Gov- 
 ernor of that state. 
 
 He was busily engaged in his law practice when the war 
 broke out, but abandoned his practice to enlist in the army. 
 His first engagement was the battle of Athens, Mo. He was 
 appointed First Lieutenant, Company C, Third Iowa Cavalry, 
 and soon afterwards appointed Regimental Adjutant. 
 
 He gradually arose from First Lieutenant to Colonel, and 
 was breveted Brigadier General for distinguished and meri- 
 torious services in the field. He participated in the battle of 
 Pea Ridge, also the siege and fall of Vicksburg and the sec- 
 ond battle at Jackson. 
 
 The regiment, having re-enlisted, was under his command 
 in a number of engagements against Forest in Tennessee 
 and Mississippi. He also participated in the cavalry campaign 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 41 
 
 under General James H. Wilson, through Alabama and 
 Georgia. He was at the head of his regiment in the night 
 attack on the works of Columbus, Ga., in which he was vic- 
 torious, and en account of the excellent service rendered, 
 Colonel Noble and his regiment were put in command of the 
 city during the stay of the army there. 
 
 While he was almost continuously with his regiment, he 
 served for awhile under General Samuel R. Curtis, first as 
 Judge Advocate General of the Army of the Southwest, and 
 afterwards as Judge Advocate in the Department of the Mis- 
 souri. 
 
 During the war he was married to Miss Lizabeth Hal- 
 stead at Northampton, Mass. At the close of the war he re- 
 turned to Iowa, but soon after decided to make St. Louis his 
 home. He was appointed District Attorney in 1867 and was 
 e.xceptionally energetic and successful as a prosecutor, his 
 services attracting the attention of President Grant, who 
 thanked him before his Cabinet for the faithful performance 
 of his duties. The President afterwards tendered him the 
 office of Solicitor General, but he declined, preferring to con- 
 tinue at his regulTr practice. 
 
 General Noble has always been exceptionally successful as 
 a lawyer, and it would be impossible to enumerate here the 
 numbr of cases which he has handled successfully, cases in- 
 volving large sums of money, corporations anti municipalities. 
 
 In 1889 he was appointed Secretary of the Interior by Presi- 
 dent Harrison, and in 1893 resumed the practice of law at the 
 St. Louis bar. 
 
 The following is a verbatim report of a speech delivered 
 by Gen. Noble before the Union Club of Philadelphia: 
 
 "GRANT IN EARLIER DAYS." 
 The Chair: — I will now ask you to drink a per- 
 sonal toast, in honor of a distinguished guest — one 
 of the high officers of the State — who comes to us 
 from the executive family of President Harrison. 
 Honor an<l liealth to John ^V. Noble, the Secretary 
 of the Interior (loud applause), and in doing so 
 we bid him hearty welcome to the Union League. 
 
42 PERSONATv REMINISCENCES 
 
 We welcome him not alone because of his great of- 
 fice, whose duties he discliaroes with such universal 
 acceptance; not alone as one near to the President, 
 the friend of his early years ; not alone as a repre 
 sentative of the vast and growing West, whose im- 
 minent empire overshadows the land, but as among 
 those modest, faithful forces in Kepublican citizen- 
 ship, long reigning in silent useful ways, and com- 
 ing when duty calls to serve his country as states- 
 man and counsellor. 
 
 Gentlemen, the health of the Secretary of the In 
 terior. 
 
 SPEECH OF HON. JOHN W. NOBLE, 
 Secretary of the Interior. 
 
 As Mr. Noble rose he was loudly cheered. When 
 silence was restored he said : 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: — It is indeed a 
 distinguished and pleasing honor to be your guest 
 to-night. This I attribute rather to my oflQce than 
 myself, and in no small degree to my association 
 with the Post-Master General. To-day, in company 
 with the President and your distinguished fellow- 
 citizen, I have looked upon one of the most signifi- 
 cant tributes that our country now or in the coming 
 years can pay to the memory of Ulysses S. Grant. 
 (Applause.) I come from where was this great 
 man's home in the days of his poverty and toil ; and 
 I fully realize the contrast between his prospects 
 then and the fame and esteem that the American 
 people now give his name and in which they hold 
 his memory. (Applause.) 
 
 When to-day in the city of New York her vast 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 43 
 
 commercial marts were all closed, and hundreds of 
 thousands of men and women assend)led on the side 
 of the river with uncovered heads, to lay the corner 
 stone of the tomb of Grant, we recognize there was 
 something in the character of the man that in a mo- 
 mentous period of our national life united him 
 deeply and everlastingly with the spirit of our peo- 
 ple. (Applause.) 
 
 What was the scmrce of this? 
 
 I have been in the log cabin that Grant reared 
 near St. Louis. It was such as our forefathers built 
 when they were first mastering the wilderness of 
 this vast continent. The logs that composed the 
 fabric were hewn by his own hand, and the struc- 
 ture was erected in a queer old western fashion, at 
 what is called "a raising." I have conversed with 
 one now living (Henry C. Wright, of St. Louis), 
 who in those days was a man of considerable pos- 
 sessions and was one of those present at that gath- 
 ering of the neighbors. He had a mill, and he has 
 told me of the days when Captain (xrant came with 
 his grain upon his horse with Nellie, his daughter, 
 seated behind liim, and waited until the grain was 
 ground, and then took the meal home in the even- 
 ing to his own fireside. (Applause.) 
 
 I have heard the stories of those men who saw 
 him cutting what he called ''props" from the oak, 
 or "black jack," on his farm, of sufficient strength 
 to keep asunder the sides of the mine and taking 
 them to the coal mines near St. Louis to sell for five 
 dollars a load, and then riding home in his empty 
 wagon, with the proceeds of his labor. (Applause.) 
 
44 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 An incident occurred in his life ( witnesses of which 
 have told it to me) worthy of note as indicative of 
 his character. At the corner of the roads near 
 Grant's home, where there was a blacksmith shop, 
 some of his neighbors were assembled and the Cap- 
 tain came by, after he had sold his load. They were 
 discussing the misfortunes of another neighbor, a 
 German, who the night before had lost his all in a 
 conflagration that consumed his home, destroyed 
 his furniture and all his cooking utensils and left 
 him and his wife and children without shelter and 
 without means. The question was what were they 
 to do? Grant, coming along in his empty wagon, 
 heard the story ; and he said : ''I know that man — 
 he is a good man. I have five dollars, the proceeds 
 of my load, give it to him. It is all I have — I wish 
 I had more to give." (Applause.) 
 
 There is unveiled on Twelfth street, in St. Louis, 
 a statue of Grant as he stood on the battlefield, 
 and it is not far distant from the spot where he sold 
 cord wood, cut with his own hand. 
 
 It is asked, why it is our people turn out in count- 
 less multitudes from all quarters of the city of 
 New York when his funeral procession goes by ; or 
 when the corner stone of his nmusoleum is laid, or 
 whj^ his birthday is celebrated in many great cities, 
 as here to-night; I reply because they recognize 
 he was a man in sympathy with the people, and 
 loved the government because it was the best that 
 people could have, a free constitutional govern- 
 ment. 
 
 When the war broke out and the question was 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 45 
 
 whether labor such as he had performed was to be 
 dignified or degraded, Grant, impelled by self-re- 
 spect, elevated by his manly nature and taught by 
 severe experience, declared for free labor and the 
 equality of all men before the law. He entered the 
 Union Army because in that organized force was 
 the power to maintain these principles and there 
 was a necessity for its immediate use. He became 
 first a mustering officer, then a colonel, by the 
 friendship of Washburne and by the more distin- 
 guished favor of the Governor of Illinois. But he 
 spoke and wrote as a man as well as served as a sol- 
 dier. Among the first letters he then penned, was 
 one to a relative saying to him with an emphasis 
 few men in the Republic of that day used, in sub- 
 stance: "It is inevitable that this war must lead 
 to the extinguishment of slavery, and it is high 
 time that if you value such property as you have 
 you get rid of it, for believe me, there will be no re- 
 sult other than that of the destruction of all value 
 in it." 
 
 He was not a man of pretentious superiority ; he 
 was great and self-reliant; but he was of the utmost 
 simplicity in thought and method. 
 
 In his memoirs lie narrates, you remember, that 
 he was doubtful of his capacity to handle his com- 
 mand in the presence of the enemy then behind the 
 hill. What should he do when they met? His heart 
 was full, his mind troubled, but as he ascended the 
 hill, he found that the enemy's camp was deserted 
 and he was the possessor of the field, and he says he 
 found that the enemv was more afraid than he was. 
 
I 
 
 46 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 ( Applause. ) That lesson he carried on through the 
 war, and the first exercise of it was at Donelson. 
 He had determined that if a man of aggressive force 
 was met by a counter force, he must be still more 
 aggressive in the contest. The battle had lasted 
 for some time and after a bitter fight both sides 
 rested; Grant said whoever first began the fight 
 anew would win, and he immediately gave the order 
 for firing and the advance. The result was that the 
 rebels were beaten and made the unconditional sur- 
 render of the fort. But as has been said here to- 
 night, when these successes were secured, it was not 
 for Grant ; he did not consider that the victory was 
 for him, but he deemed it was for his country, it 
 was for the plain people, and the principles that 
 would succor them and save free institutions. His 
 heart all the time went out not only to the soldiers 
 of the North that were supporting him, but to the 
 whole people of our country, that they might be 
 ga;thered under the wings and the brooding care of 
 the Republic. 
 
 Subsequently, after the great battle of Shiloh, 
 the victory at Vicksburg, Mission Ridge, and other 
 great strategic combinations — victories we are so 
 proud to celebrate — he came to the culminating 
 period of his military career. Riding by night and 
 riding by day, in a blouse, without military marks 
 of rank, everlastingly moving by his left flank 
 against Lee, who had to meet him constantly at 
 some new point more dangerous to Richmond. Lee, 
 who has been eulogized by many whose testimony 
 has in it all the force of his own admirers, after the 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 47 
 
 battle of the AYilderness had been visited by the 
 commanders of his different military corps. The 
 battle there had l)een bloody and the Union forces 
 not having gained any signal success it was antici- 
 pated that there would be again, as under previous 
 generals, a retreat upon Washington. But while 
 these Confederate warriors were gathered around 
 their chief, an aid-de-camp rode in and said, "Tlie 
 enemy (that is (Irant) is moving by his left flank 
 towards Richmond!" Lee arose and said to his 
 men, "To your posts, the order is to move by our 
 right flank. The Uni(m Army has at last found .i 
 General." (Applause.) 
 
 At last Grant came to Appomattox and the clos- 
 ing scene. In the presence of Lee, with his own 
 hand, on a piece of paper no greater than that 
 (holding up a menu about ten inches scjuare) he 
 wrote the terms of capitulation. You have seen the 
 fac simile in his memoirs. A remarkable paper in 
 military history. Written by a General in com- 
 mand of the greatest forces the world has ever seen, 
 without an adjutant-general or other assistant. 
 Fixing the destiny not only of the hundreds of thou- 
 sands of the capitulating forces, but of a whole na- 
 tion. As Grant looked up he saw that General Lee 
 had on his sword and full insignia of rank in antici- 
 pation that there would be performed one of those 
 dramatic scenes on the theater of war, of the sur- 
 render of one great general of his sword to the other 
 and greater one. But Grant was not fighting for 
 Grant, he was not fighting for theatrical effect, he 
 had been fighting for the people, and had labored 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 I 
 
 all these years to preserve tlie Union; and as he 
 looked up and saw that sword, he wrote: "The 
 arms, artillery and public property to be parked 
 and stacked, and turned over to the officer ap- 
 pointed by me to receive them. This will not em- 
 brace the side arms of officers, nor their private 
 horses or baggage." ( Applause. ) 
 
 After that, and after the terms of that great 
 capitulation were made, the Southern army was to 
 disband. The question arose as to what was to be 
 done with the horses that the enlisted men had been 
 riding. Thev Avere not included within the strict 
 terms of this capitulation, but the General said, 
 with the memory of the days when on his own farm 
 he had plowed the soil, where he had cut wood, "Let 
 them take their horses with them, they will need 
 them for the Spring plowing." (Applause.) 
 
 When President of these United States, as was 
 mentioned by my eloquent friend, the Postmaster- 
 General, and as the Senator from Vermont ex- 
 pressed it, he was as practical a man as has ever 
 filled that station. He filled it with honor and 
 most ditinguished ability. Afterwards he took 
 that memorable journey around the world. This 
 former farmer, this former hewer of wood and 
 drawer of water, in the great Republic that gives 
 any man a chance to rise to the highest place, vis- 
 ited the far distant regions of the earth and the is- 
 lands of the sea, an invited and most welcome guest. 
 Monarchs and nations uncovered in his presence 
 and bowed before the greatness of the man. (Ap- 
 plause. ) He was feasted at Windsor Castle by the 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 49 
 
 Queen; who, I am proud to say, iu all the dark 
 hours of our war for the Union, — whatever her 
 ministers may have intended — was the friend of 
 freedom. (iVpplause.) It was she who said, when 
 they wanted her to declare that the Southern States 
 were entitled to the rights of an independent na- 
 tion, "As I understand it, they are fighting- for slav- 
 ery, and the North is fighting for freedom. I will 
 approve no such order." (Applause.) 
 
 He returned to Liverpool, you remend)er, after 
 his reception at AVindsor Castle, and there many 
 thousands of workingmen came to visit him and 
 pay their respects. To them he said, in the simplic- 
 ity of his character and the grandeur of his nature, 
 that it was the most interesting visit and the most 
 grateful honor that he had I'eceived since he had 
 left his native land. 
 
 He came back. He was a man among us after 
 that. He undertook to assume the cares of daily 
 life once more, not thinking but that on any field 
 integrity and labor and courage would succeed. He 
 did not calcukite upon the dispositions of others. 
 Let me narrate an episode connecting the life of the 
 great man more directly with yourselves. The citi- 
 zens of rhiladelphia during the war had honored 
 him. You endeavored to put into his possession 
 some recognition of the sacrifices he had made. Let 
 me read abetter that was sent by him to Mr. Knight 
 at the time. It is in his own hand : 
 Headquarters of the 
 
 Armv of the I*otomac. 
 
 Citv Point, Va., January 4, 1865. 
 
50 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 Messrs. Geo. H. Stuart, A. E. Borie, Wm. C. 
 Kent, E. C Knight, Davis Pearson, Geo. W. 
 VV^hituey and James Ch-aliam, Committee. 
 
 Gentlemen : — Through 3'ou the lo^^al citizens of 
 Phihidelphia have seen tit to present me with house 
 and hjt and furniture in your beautiful city. The 
 letter notifying me of this is just received. It is 
 with feelings of gratitude that I accept this sub- 
 stantial testimonial of the esteem of your loyal citi- 
 zens. Gratitude, because it is evidence of a deep 
 set determination on the part of a large number of 
 citizens that this war shall go on until the Union 
 is restored. ( Ap])lause ) Pride that mj humble ef- 
 forts in so great a cause should attract such a token 
 from a city of strangers to me. 
 
 I will not predict a day when y.e will have peace 
 again a\ ith a Union restored. But that that day 
 will come is as sure as the rising of to-morrow's 
 sun. I have never doubted tins in the darkest days 
 of this dark and terrible rebellion. 
 
 Until this happy day of peace does come, my fam- 
 ily will occupy and enjoy your magnificent pres- 
 ent. But until that, I do not expect, nor desire to 
 see much of the enjoyments of a home fireside. 
 
 I have the honor to be with great respect, 
 Your ob't serv't, 
 U. S. Grant. Lt. Gen., U. S. A. 
 
 Your munificence bestowed on him other gifts, 
 and here is a letter from him in his own handwrit- 
 ing: 
 Headquarters Armirs of 
 
 the United States. 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 51 
 
 Washington, January 26, 1867. 
 
 Dear Sir: — I have tlie lionor to acknowledge re- 
 ceipt of the policies of insurance on my I'hila- 
 (lelphia house which you have been kind enough to 
 present me with. The kindness of the Philadelphia 
 public as well as the individual kindness of the in- 
 surance companies represented by you, will be ever 
 remembered by me most gratefully. 
 
 Please present my thanks to the Pennsylvania, 
 Delaware ^Mutual and North American Insurance 
 Companies for their favor. 
 
 With great respect, your ob't s'vt, 
 
 U . S. GiiANT^ General. 
 To E. C. Knight, Esq., Phil., Pa. 
 
 This property was worth, as I am told by Mr. 
 Knight, now by my side, |52,000. The man to 
 whom that was given a\ as a man who had earned 
 his living as we have seen ; an American who never 
 kne^^• a\ hat it was to owe a debt that he could not 
 pay. That honored man liad commanded the 
 forces of the whole Republic, but in the integrity of 
 his heart, and the utter simplicity of his nature 
 he had gone into the depths and dangers of Wall 
 street and established a banking company, in Miiich 
 he was more or less responsible. Having sim^u so 
 many men face the cannon's mouth for the love of 
 man, he continued to believe that all men were time. 
 He M as deceived. He lost all, became in debt, and 
 for his honor be it known that he began to sell all 
 that he had in order to pay his debts. Your sacred 
 gift was given for his country's honor and his repu- 
 tation, that was hers. (Applause.) 
 
52 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 But even a sadder hour came on. Sickness and 
 disease assailed him, and death, Avith relentless 
 power advanced upon him, closer and closer day 
 after dav. Still he felt that the work upon which 
 he had entered would not be completely achieved 
 unless these States were united, and fellow feeling 
 and friendship restored among all our people. 
 From the sympathy extended to him in these long 
 hours of trial, by the South as well as the North, 
 he gained the hope that the wounds of war were 
 being closed. He began in these days and finished 
 amid these emotions his "Memoirs." In his dying 
 hours, by this work wrought out amid physical 
 anguish and in the presense of death, he did as 
 much by his pen to re-establish love for our institu- 
 tions as in the day of battle he had accomplished 
 by his sword in maintaining the flag. All our peo- 
 ple throughout the whole land alike mourned his 
 death. 
 
 There Avas a scene I witnessed symbolical of this 
 result. At the time I was in the city of New York, 
 as a citizen of St. Louis upon the committee from 
 that community that was to do honor in the funeral 
 procession of General Grant. The long procession 
 was already moving up Fifth avenue, the slow 
 throbbing of the muffled drum was heard, scarcely 
 audible. In the hall of the hotel at the parlor door 
 is a canopy of velvet curtains. While waiting in 
 the hall for the catafalque that bore the remains of 
 Grant to his resting place on Riverside, I saw sud- 
 denly appear at the door a gallant officer in full 
 dress, with all his military insignia. It was Wil- 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 53 
 
 liam T. Sherman, the commander of the Army of 
 the United States. The full exponent of the power 
 of the Republic to preserve its own existence, as he 
 and Grant had shown it could do. And as he stood 
 beneath this door another figure came from the op- 
 posite side, A military man, too, of slighter stat- 
 ure, dressed in citizen's clothes, with no badges of 
 authority. He took the hand of Sherman. It was 
 the ex-Confederate General, Joe Johnston. And, 
 then, as the time had arrived, Johnston took the 
 arm of Sherman and they moved down the hall, en- 
 tered the carriage and followed the body of Grant 
 to Riverside, doing the equal honor to the man that 
 had saved the Union. (Applause.) 
 
 There followed in that line many a regiment 
 from the North, whose glories have here to-night 
 been eulogized ; and from the South, from the old 
 Confederate Army, with flags draped and furled, 
 recognizing the condition of things that had been 
 brouglit about by this great chieftain all were hon- 
 oring. The masses of the people of every condition 
 in life and of every shade in political sentiment, 
 filled the avenues and crowded the highest build- 
 ings from base to roof, all with sad and apprecia- 
 tive hearts. ' 
 
 Gentlemen, may it not now be said upon these 
 proofs that the element in that man's character ele- 
 vating him as a military man and as a civil magis- 
 trate was born in the hours when he was in experi- 
 ence, condition of life and sympathy one of the 
 plain people! loving his wife and children in pur- 
 ity and trust ; supported by his own industry, be- 
 
54 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 stowing- his small means for charity and living the- 
 courageous life of a whole-souled man — a patriotic 
 American. Now or through the coming ages there 
 is and will be no monument of granite or gold that 
 can increase the love and honor for Grant, as it 
 rests and will renmin in the hearts of our people, 
 who recognize in him not only the great soldier 
 but the great man. (Applause.) 
 
 ^;^^^2^^H/^ 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 
 
 55 
 
 
 R 1 C H A U D M. 
 JOHNSON was 
 born in Illinois in 
 the city of Belle- 
 ville. He received 
 his early education 
 in Mc K e n d r e e 
 College. Coming to St. 
 Louis in 1858, he read lavf 
 in the office of his orother, 
 Governor Johnson. In 18G1 
 he was appointed a clerK 
 in the Postoffice Depart- 
 ment, and in 1S62 was ten- 
 dered a position as chief 
 corresponding clerk in 
 General Grant's headquar- 
 ters, under Quartirmaster 
 Colonel Chas. A. Reynolds. In 1865 he was appointed Super- 
 intendent of the State Tobacco Warehouse by Governor 
 Fletcher. He was married to Miss Annie Blow, daughter of 
 Taylor Blow of St. Louis, in 1866. 
 
 Appointed by General Grant in 1867 as Post Trader at 
 Fort Dodge. Kan., and in 1869 he accepted an appointment 
 tendered him by Gsneral Grant as Consul to Han Kow, China, 
 which office he held with credit for eight years. Two of 
 Colonel Johnson's children were born in China. He returned 
 to the United States and resumed the practice of law in 
 1877. He was elected Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in 1894, 
 and was again elected in 1898, and while he has always been 
 active in politics as a Republican, he numbers among his 
 friends, regardless of political affiliations, as many Demo- 
 crats as Republicans. 
 
 The anecdotes that follow are by Colonel Richard M. John- 
 son, and not only call attention to the qualities known to 
 the world of General Grant's characteristics as a commander 
 whose word was considered by all his subordinates as law, 
 but Colonel Dick relates several experiences of a humorous 
 vein that are refreshing and entertaining, and they are told 
 
56 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 in a manner that is inimical and so characteristic of Colonel 
 Dick. 
 
 When I look back tliroiigli the years that have 
 been wiped from the calendar of time, there arises 
 vividly before me the image and acts of the old 
 commander, Gen. U. S. Grant. Out of the niches of 
 memory 1 gather some of the personal reminis- 
 cences of the man from Appomatox, and the famous 
 ap])le tree. 
 
 With all the enthusiasm of a young man, when 
 the civil war was stirring all the patriotism of our 
 beings into action, I first became attached to Gen. 
 Grant's command in the Department of the West, 
 and my admiration for the man and the soldier w^as 
 awakened at once, and it has grown through all the 
 passing years until I came to revere the memory 
 of the liero of battle and the bard of peace. The 
 man whom Charles P. Johnson once designated as 
 the "greatest citizen of the Republic, and therefore 
 the greatest citizen of the world," I looked up to in 
 my younger days and now I look back to with the 
 more profound admiration of mature years. 
 
 "The silent man," as Gen. Grant was called, has 
 said more in fewer words and done more by positive 
 action to make his history immortal than any man 
 of his time. 
 
 I feel to-day that it was a great privilege to have 
 been associated with the "silent" but positive com- 
 mander of the Army of the Tennessee. 
 
 It was along early in 1862, when I was an em- 
 ploye of the Post Office, that I met one day upon the 
 streets of St. Louis Mr. Jas. W. Way, a well-known 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 57 
 
 citizen, who still lives, and is noAV the consulting 
 engineer of the Missouri Pacific system. The gen- 
 tleman informed me that there was a chance for a 
 young man or two to get right to the front, and 
 right into the theatre of war by the stage entrance. 
 
 I was physically disqualified for sei*\'ice in the 
 field where the old Springfield rifle was arbiter of 
 destiny and the brazen cannon the mouth-piece of 
 millions. But there was an opening, said my friend 
 Way, for a young man in the quartermaster's de- 
 partment, and there was an emergency call for such 
 a patriot right near the firing lines. I realized how 
 true was the old adage : ''Where there is a will there 
 is a Way," and in my case it was Jas. W. 
 
 Before the daAvn of the fourth day after meeting 
 my friend, 1 had passed down over the old South- 
 western railway and reported at Gen. Grant's head- 
 quarters for duty, at the famous battle ground of 
 Pittsburg Landing on the shores of the Tennessee. 
 
 The day that I first met Cien. (iraut, at the front, 
 was a memorable one to me, giving me the first real 
 insight into the character of the man and the sol- 
 dier. 
 
 I had just dismounted from a splendid pony, 
 rather tlian a liorse, when the General came up, 
 and with his fondness for horses he stopped and 
 stroked the i)ony's head in a gentle, caressing way, 
 which was so characteristic of the man. 
 
 The General spoke to me kindly, and in a way 
 that put me at once at my ease. Tliere was none of 
 the pomp or arrogance of many an officer of lesser 
 rank than he in his mann(a* when he said : 
 
58 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 "That is a fine little animal. Does it belong to 
 you?" 
 
 "No, General ; tlie pony is government property," 
 I replied. 
 
 "What may its name be, please?" further asked 
 the General, as he continued to make friends with 
 my pony. 
 
 "General Grant," I promptly replied. 
 
 "Ah, indeed !" he remarked, without the slightest 
 change in his manner. "You might have given liira 
 a more wortliy name," and then turning to me he 
 asked : "What is your name?" 
 
 "Richard M. Johnson, of St. Louis," I replied as 
 I saluted the General. 
 
 Reaching out his liand he took mine in his friend- 
 ly grasp, remarking in a sincere but kindly voice: 
 
 "I am glad to have met you, Mr. Johnson," and 
 then the man who was destined to show the world 
 that he was the greatest soldier of the age Avhen 
 war existed, and still a greater man of peace when 
 Gen. Lee and his army of Northern Virginia low- 
 ered their banners and the clash of arms had 
 ceased. 
 
 The more I saw of Gen. Grant during my stay 
 in the service, and I had occasion to be near him 
 very often, for the General took a liking to me from 
 the start, which you all can appreciate was very 
 gratifying to a young man in my position, who en- 
 tertained such proud admiration for him. 
 
 The simple sincerity of the General first attracted 
 me to him. His kind, fatherly Avay toward me made 
 me venerate the araudeur and the strenoth of his 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 59 
 
 character. 
 
 He was the most positive, self-reliant man that 
 God ever inspired with the breath of life. He was 
 gentle in his relations with his officers and men, 
 but firm and inflexible when his mind was made 
 np and the battle was at hand. The staff did the 
 talkino- — the old commander the thinking and act- 
 ing. He never blnstered or blasphemed. TTis men 
 knew their commander never vacillated, and when 
 his commands were given to "press the center,'' the 
 center was pressed. 
 
 The one single act that bronght Gen. Grant more 
 prominently before the American people than any 
 others, and gave to the world an insight into his 
 true character, Avas the letter he wrote to Gen. 
 Bnckner, the Confederate commander at Fort Don- 
 elson, in Febrnary, 1862, in denmnding the sur- 
 render of the stronghold. He said : 
 
 "No terms except an immediate and uncondi- 
 tional surrender can be accepted. I propose to 
 move immediately upon your works.'' 
 
 Those immortal A\'ords were not uttered nor writ- 
 ten in the heat of i>assion, but they were so force- 
 ful and convincing in their terseness and so ]iositive 
 and pointed, that they inspired the heart of the na- 
 tion to new hope and turned its watchful eyes to the 
 "silent" soldier as the man the country had watched 
 and waited for after placing its trust in so many 
 commanders, who proved either "short in the 
 reach," or too slow in attempting to land a knock- 
 out blow. 
 
 It is not mx intention to make these reminis- 
 
60 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 cences solely as an eulogy upon the life and acts of 
 Gen. Grant, but rather to j>;ck from the inan}^ inci- 
 dents that are recalled from personal association 
 with him, that will bring the reader closer to the 
 real Grant. 
 
 One little reminiscence is recalled after the fall 
 of Vicksburg, which reveals one side of the Gen- 
 eral's character very clearly. I was walking with 
 him one day where much of the ordnance supplies 
 were stored, and, as usual the old commander was 
 puffing slowly on a good cigar. 
 
 Suddenly a sentry strode up, and in a rough, al- 
 most brutal voice, exclaimed to Gen. Grant: 
 
 ''Trow dat d — n cigar away at once. Do you 
 want to blow up the ordnance department?" 
 
 Without the least show of resentment, and with 
 a sort of grim smile upon his lips he tossed the fra- 
 grantweed away, as we passed on he remarked to 
 me, "That soldier was rigiit, but he had rather a 
 brusk way about expressing liimself." 
 
 That was (irant all over. The incident was never 
 referred to again by him as far as I know of, but 
 there was but one old commander, and he knew 
 how to take commands and to obey them without 
 argument, if they were right. Of course the sentry 
 at Vicksburg did not know the man he cursed at 
 was the Commanding General, and I am sure that 
 Grant never enlightened him. 
 
 There were two men in the service that Gen. 
 Grant had a great fondness for. They were Adj.- 
 Gen. John A. Rawlings and Asst. Agt..-Gen. Bow- 
 ers. After the war I was in Washington and I 
 called at Gen. Grant's headquarters, where I found 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 61 
 
 him chatting with old members of his staff. As I 
 was looking about I saw an unframed picture of a 
 man whom I could not place. 
 
 "Who is that a picture of, General?" I asked in 
 a casual way. 
 
 "That's Bowers/' the General replied as he turn- 
 ed around and looked kind of sadly at the canvas. 
 "You heard about Bowers, haven't you?" 
 . I knew Bowers, but had to confess that I had not 
 learned anything in particular about him, as I in- 
 ferred from the General's attitude when he an- 
 swered my question as to whom the picture repre- 
 sented, there was something out of the ordinary 
 connected with the reference. The General related 
 the folloAving story in a way that told me it was 
 most painful to him : 
 
 "I was called to West Point to inspect the mili- 
 tary school one day, and Bowers accompanied me. 
 As we were Avaiting at the railroad station just 
 across the Hudson from West Point for the train I 
 placed my hand bag on a seat and strolled out with 
 Bowers to the platform. Presently the train came 
 rolling in, and just as I boarded it I discovered that 
 I did not have my hand bag, which contained noth- 
 ing in particular but some toilet articles, a collar 
 or two, some handkerchiefs and such like small ar- 
 ticles. I turned and asked Bowers if he had my 
 bag. He replied negatively, but at once conceived 
 that I had left it in the station. He was a young 
 and active man, and he lightly leaped to the plat- 
 form with the intention of securing the satchel, and 
 I walked into the car, taking a seat just behind a 
 
62 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 lady. I tlioiight notliini'- farther about the satchel 
 incident until the lady who sat in front of me 
 screamed in horror. 
 
 " 'What is it, madame?' I asked. 
 
 "'Oh I they haye run oyer a soldier,' she ex- 
 claimed in <;reat excitement. 
 
 "I turned to look for Bowers. He was not in 
 sight. I went to the platform and there" — (the 
 General's yoice grew tremulous here) — "Colonel, 
 that soldi(^r, crushed to death, Avas Bowers." 
 
 He could say no more then. A tear glistened for 
 a moment in his e^'e and then rolled down his 
 face — a silent sob right up from his kindly heart. 
 
 I can say that there was cry in Col. Dick's eyes 
 then, but I pulled myself together and remarked : 
 
 "What a pity, General, that Bowers could not 
 haye met a soldier's glorious death at Missionary 
 Ridge." 
 
 "Ah, yes I" replied the General, with emotion, "or 
 fallen 'mid the shot and shell of Vicksburg." 
 
 This incident reyeals the tender and sentimental 
 side of the great soldier, and true friend. 
 
 I do not belieye that General (xraut eyer felt the 
 sensation of physical fear and in the face of great 
 peril, bearing the heayy responsibility of a com- 
 mander of a yast army in action, the result of which 
 was fraught with so much to the national life, he 
 was the calmest and most collected of all the actors 
 in the tragedy of battle. When a battle was in- 
 eyitable, and the plans of the engagement being per- 
 fected, the members of Grant's staff, naturally anx- 
 ious as to the outcome, (;fteu <lis]»]ayed tlieir nery- 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 63 
 
 ousness. Ou sneli occasions Gen. Grant would 
 demonstrate again his nerve and coolness. 
 
 ''Gentlemen/' lie would say to his staff, "Now re- 
 member that the other fellows are just as much 
 scared as you are, and act accordingly." While all 
 was flurry and scurry, the General's pencil Avas in 
 his hand maping out the line of battle, as clear and 
 sharp as steel rails on a curveless railroad track. 
 
 Gen. Grant never forgot or forsook a friend in 
 the da^'S when he was at the pinnacle of fortune. 
 One day I met Al. Sandford, of St. Louis in Wash- 
 ington, when U. S. Grant Avas President. Sandford 
 and the President liad been warm personal friends 
 before the A^ar, A\iien the former was plain Capt- 
 Grant. Sandford wanted to call on the President 
 the worst kind, and asked what he should do and 
 say when he met his old friend surrounded by pomp 
 and power of state. 
 
 "O, just go in naturally, Al," I advised Sandford. 
 *'Say, 'Mr. President, allow your old friend, Al. 
 Sandford, to congratulate you and to assure you 
 of his great gratification and joy to find you where 
 you are justl}^ entitled to be. President of this great 
 and glorious republic' " 
 
 "Oh, shucks, Colonel Dick," said Al. "How do 
 you expect me to make that kind of a spiel to 
 'Lys,' " as he used to call him away back when both 
 he and Grant, then a captain, Avere courting Miss 
 Julia Dent, whom you all know the man of destiny 
 won and carried away a wife to his little cabin home 
 on Gravois creek. However, Sandford got to the 
 executive mansion, sent in his card, and when the 
 
64 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 President received it from the messenger, and 
 glanced at it he sprang up hurriedly and rushed out 
 to meet Sandford, with the cheery greeting of old : 
 
 "Come right in, Al, you don't know how glad I 
 am to see you. Have you called on Julia yet?" 
 
 "No, Lys, not yet. How is Julia, God bless her?" 
 blurted out Sandford impulsively, all my set 
 speech being stricken with paralysis before it ever 
 touched his tongue. 
 
 "Julia is in excellent health, as are the rest of 
 the family, replied President Grant as he pushed 
 Al into a seat and sat down beside him. For a 
 long time one was Al and the other 'Lys, as old 
 times were discussed in the old time style. This 
 incident is about as truly Grant like as any I have 
 ever heard of him. 
 
 Shortly after Gen. Grant's return from his trip 
 around the world, he came to St. Louis and stopped 
 a couple of days at the Southern Hotel. I stepped 
 over to the hostelry where I met an old ex-Confed- 
 erate Colonel from Atchison county, whom I knew 
 to be a personal friend of my brother, Charles P. 
 Johnson. The stalwart ex-Confederate veteran 
 came to me with the request that I present him to 
 Gen. Grant, who had just come into the rotunda. 
 
 "I've always wanted to meet Gen. Grant person- 
 ally, ever since the surrender of Gen. Lee," declared 
 the man from Atchison county. 
 
 I introduced the Colonel to Gen. Grant. He 
 grasped the conqueror of Lee by the hand and shook 
 it most cordially, bursting out with this stalwart 
 declaration : 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 65 
 
 "Gen. Grant, I have always wanted to meet you, 
 and to thank you for your kind and soldiery treat- 
 ment of our gallant leader of the lost cause. Gen. 
 R. E. Lee, and his faithful followers, when our col- 
 ors went down in the dust that fateful day at Ap- 
 pomatox. I want to assure you that all of our boys 
 retain the same sentiments that I do, for I was one 
 of Lee's colonels in that memorable campaign of the 
 Army of Virginia, that you so magnanimously al- 
 lowed to retain its side arms, its wagons, provisions 
 and its horses. General, the outfit was greatly de- 
 moralized, and our stock was badly run down, but 
 we took what we had and went to our homes, and I 
 can tell you that we plowed like h — 1." 
 
 "Colonel!" replied Gen. Grant, with some emo- 
 tion. "It is one of the greatest pleasures of my 
 maturing years to meet the old boys like you, and 
 shake their hands. It makes me feel that we really 
 have peace." 
 
 Gen. Fred Grant, the old commander's son, who 
 so much resembles his father, was in St. Louis last 
 27th of April and a guest of the Illinois Society at 
 its banquet given on "the late Gen. Grant's birthday 
 in honor of the grand old soldier. I was supposed 
 to look after the needs if any, of Gen. Fred Grant, 
 while he remained in the city. It was a perfunctory 
 assignment, as the General didn't seem to have any 
 particular needs that our society could fill, but I 
 did my duty heroically. 
 
 On the night of our banquet, I suggested to Gen. 
 Fred that he Avould be expected to give some kind 
 of a talk, and he tried hard to get out of it for the 
 
66 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 reasou, he declared, that he was in no sense a public 
 or post prandial speaker. He faced the music 
 bravely for about five minutes and really made the 
 hit of the evening. In a hesitating sort of a way^ 
 he started oft" in this style : 
 
 "Ladies and Gentlemen of the Illinois Society, 
 I — I — am happy ; yes, greatly pleased to be here to- 
 night and I sincerely thank you that your society 
 honors m^' father's birthday l>y this gathering to- 
 night. I told Colonel Dick Johnson at the outset 
 that I could not make a speech, but he honored me 
 by telling me that I looked so much like my father 
 that I ought to be able to make as good a speech 
 as he used to. 
 
 "I will relate an incident that occurred at a so- 
 cial gathering in Brooklyn, N. Y., which I attended 
 and was called upon to make a speech. I went at 
 it and was making as painful an effort in set terms 
 as I am making to-night. There was an old friend 
 of my father's present, like Colonel Johnson, who 
 had been telling me that I reminded him so much 
 of my father, and if there is anything that I am 
 proud of in the world it is to be reminded that I 
 resend)le him in any Avay. I admit that the Brooklyn 
 speech was a little worse than the one I am letting 
 loose right now, but at its wind up something that 
 saved the day occurred. Just as I sat down that 
 old fi-iend of my father's got up and exclaimed, 'By 
 gosh, if you ain't just like your father. Neither of 
 3^ou could make a speech.' " 
 
 Oen. Fred sat down amidst peals of laughter, 
 a living picture of the grand old commander in 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 67 
 
 whose memory we were breaking the bread of good 
 fellowship across the board and honoring his dis- 
 tingiiislied son. 
 
 CONGRATULATIONS FOR GARFIELD. 
 
 At the time of tlie eventfnl convention at Chica- 
 go which made memorable the famous 306 delegates 
 that stuck to General (irant through every varying 
 phase of the contest for the nomination for the 
 Presidency, under the masterly leadership of Ros- 
 coe Conkling, I was so deeply interested in the final 
 result that 1 could scarcely leave the bulletining 
 places long enough to get my meals. The day be- 
 fore the convention chose James A. Garfield as the 
 standard bearer of the Republican party I met 
 Colonel Easton, one of General Grant's warmest 
 personal and political friends, who was, like my- 
 self, deeply absorljed in the stirring and nerve- 
 testing ordeal through which the admirers of the 
 General were undergoing as each ballot was pro- 
 gressing, and he said to me: 
 
 "Colonel Dick, I am going over to Galena and 
 see how Grant is feeling, and be with him when the 
 final result is announced. Come along yourself. 
 You can get in your congratulations at short range 
 like myself. This waiting and watching down here 
 is getting tryingly monotonous." 
 
 Col. Easton's suggestion struck me as the proper 
 thing for the occasion, but I could not follow them 
 myself, but Colonel Easton made arrangements 
 for departure, and the next morning he was with 
 
68 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 the General looking- over the balloting with as 
 much eagnerness as he had displayed in St. Louis, 
 but the man, whose name for the third time was 
 before a National Republican Convention as a can- 
 didate for the highest office the people of these 
 United States had to offer, seemed the least moved 
 of all the group of deeply interested persons about 
 him. 
 
 The man of peace and destiny received the ballots 
 as they were brought into the store where, Colonel 
 Easton told me, some friends had gathered about 
 him, as cool and complacently as if he might have 
 been scanning a ticker tape just to pass the time. 
 
 "The same calmness was seen in his features that 
 had so often before been noticed under momentous 
 circumstances," related Gen. Easton on his return. 
 
 There was not the least show of emotion except 
 when I remarked at the conclusion of one of the 
 ballots: 
 
 "General, those 306 delegates are what I call 
 thoroughbreds." 
 
 "Yes," quietl.y, but with more tenderness in his 
 voice, replied Grant, "It is very gratifying to feel 
 the pulse of one's friends, and find they never falter 
 under conditions which test both men's hearts and 
 pulse." 
 
 "When the convention broke for Garfield the old 
 soldier displayed the natural interest of the citizen, 
 but not a shadow of disappointment was visible. 
 
 "When the man from the tow-path had the line 
 and his nomination was a foregone conclusion, 
 Grant asked for a piece of paper, remarking with 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 69 
 
 perfect frankness and sincerity: 
 
 '"I wish to send my congratulations to General 
 Garfield/ but some one broke in right at this point 
 by suggesting a name for the tail of the ticket. 
 
 "Grant dropped the paper on the counter, with 
 the pencil still in his hand, saying in reply to the 
 gentlemen who had spoken of the Vice-Presidency : 
 
 " 'I should very much like to have an opportunity 
 to congratulate General Arthur. I trust his name 
 may be put upon the ticket with General Garfield." 
 
 "Then there was some talking about the matter 
 for some moments, Grant in the mean time having 
 been drawn away from the place where he left the 
 sheet of paper and the matter was forgotten amidst 
 the general talk. That is v/hy the Old Command- 
 er's congratulations never were sent to the succss- 
 ful candidate before the convention. Whether Gen- 
 eral Grant ever sent congratulations to Arthur or 
 not I do not know, and at the time didn't care 
 much, as I was so disappointed at the thought that 
 those tree hundred and six faithful followers of the 
 Galena tanner could not be swelled to the nominat- 
 ing point. 
 
 "I came back to St. Louis feeling a great deal 
 worse than General Grant did over his defeat." 
 
 JUST LIKE GRANT. 
 When I sought appointment as Consul to China, 
 it was Shanghai that I was aiming at, but the condi- 
 tion of affairs at the time I applied after Grant's 
 election landed me in Hankow. I had strong en- 
 dorsement for the U. S. Marshalship in this dis- 
 
70 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 trict, to fill out an unexpired term of office. That 
 was before General Grant's election, and while An- 
 drew Johnson was President, owing to the assassin- 
 ation of Abraham Lincoln. The President said he 
 would send in my name to the Senate if I could get 
 the endorsement of the Senators from Missouri. 
 When T approached Senator Drake he declared he 
 had no objections to my appointment on personal 
 grounds, but he would not approve any person for 
 any position whose name was sent in by President 
 Andrew Johnson, whom Drake disliked owing to 
 his attitude in affairs that led up to his impeach- 
 ment. Under those conditions I withdrew my ap- 
 plication for IJ. S. Marshal, presenting it to Gen- 
 eral Grant soon after his inauguration as Presi- 
 dent. 
 
 The President thought at the time, owing to dif- 
 ferent Federal positions having just been filled 
 by citizens of St. Louis that the Marshalship sb<>uld 
 go to the State, but promised me that if I should 
 look up something else he Avould appoint me. 
 
 I then drew up a petition for the Shanghai Con- 
 sulship a.nd went to tlie President with it. As 
 Shanghai had already been promised the President 
 suggested Hankow. 
 
 I did not change the petition but left it just as it 
 was. 
 
 "Never mind changing the name of the Chinese 
 port in your petition, Mr. Johnson. Just leave it 
 with me and I'll attend to it all right," said Presi- 
 dent Grant in his cordial frankness. 
 
 I handed him the Shanghai petition, and while 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 71 
 
 we talked for a feAv inomeuts until the arrival of 
 Chief Justice Chase, Ceneral Logau and other dig- 
 nitaries, when I thought it time for Col. Dick to 
 make exit. As I was starting to depart the Presi- 
 dent looked up pleaantly as he threw down the pe- 
 tition on a pile of i^apers that would till a bushel 
 basket. 
 
 I picked it up and kissed it good-bye, and he 
 smilingly asked : ^'What did you do that for?" 
 
 "I am afraid that I will never hear from that 
 document again, Mr. President," I replied. "It 
 looks like a goner amidst that vast array of formid- 
 able looking documents. Are those all petitions 
 for the Hankow Consulship?" I asked dubiously. 
 
 The President laughingly said in reply to my 
 question, and with an assuring voice: "Not all of 
 them are for China, but I'll attend to yours prompt- 
 ly," and God bless him, he did. 
 
 "I started for St. Louis at once and when I was 
 leaving the ferry boat on my arrival here, to my 
 joy and grantification I heard a newsboy crying 
 out: 
 
 " 'Evening Dispatch; all about the appointment 
 of Dick Johnson as Consul to China.' " 
 
 Now you can imagine my feelings at that mo- 
 ment. But that act of General Grant proved the 
 depth and sincerity of his friendship, and the sim- 
 plicity and truthfulnes of the man, as nearly every 
 act of his had done previously. 
 
 MARINIADUKE MET GRANT. 
 
 When General Grant was Commander-in-Chief of 
 
72 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 the Army, after the war he was called to New York 
 on some matter of business and registered at the 
 Fifth Avenue Hotel, where at the same time Gen- 
 eral John S. Marmaduke, later Governor of Mis- 
 souri, was sojourning for a brief time. While 
 Grant was writing his name on the register, Mar- 
 maduke, as some one who knew the little man was 
 at the hotel desk, mentioned the fact and on be- 
 ing informed who the distinguished guest was, he 
 walked over at once to where General Grant was 
 standing and at once accosted him : 
 
 "This" General Grant?" 
 
 "Yes," answered the famous soldier. 
 
 "My name is Marmaduke, General, and I have a 
 great desire to meet you," was General Marma- 
 duke's greeting as the two Generals' hands clasped. 
 
 "General Marmaduke of Missouri?" asked Grant 
 in an interested and extremely cordial manner. 
 
 "Yes, sir, General," replied the old fighter from 
 the Confederate side. 
 
 "General, I am really glad to meet you, and if 
 you will excuse me a few moments until I retire to 
 my room and make change in my toilet, as I just ar- 
 rived by train from Washington, and I feel a little 
 soiled, I should like to sit and chat for awhile, if 
 agreeable to yourself." 
 
 Of course it was agreeable to General Marma- 
 duke, and after a few moments the Commander of 
 the American Army returned, and the two veterans 
 retired to a private parlor, where over their cigars 
 they talked for over an hour. 
 
 General Grant's quiet, unassuming manner and 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 73 
 
 frankness of speech captured the warrior that wore 
 the grey completely, and when he returned to St. 
 Louis I met him at the old Planters' one day, when 
 he began to sound the praise of General Grant in 
 the most enthusiastic maner and in no measured 
 terms. 
 
 '^Don't you know. Colonel Dick, that I think 
 General Grant is the greatest man in the country," 
 exclaimed General Marmaduke, very earnestly. 
 "He is not only a great soldier, but lie has the great- 
 est and grandest heart that ever beat in a human 
 bosom. He is by a damn sight the biggest little 
 man that ever was," and the gallant old General 
 meant just what he said, you may be assured. 
 
 ^ZX_. 
 
74 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 General FREDERICK DEM GR\NT AT THE LOG CABIN BlILT BY 
 HIS FATHER. 
 
 The Son of the Great Soldier-President Was Moved Almost to 
 Tears Upon Revisiting the Home of His Humble Boy- 
 hood, Now on the World's Fair Grounds. 
 
 A^'lien Bridadier-General Frederictv D. Grant was 
 iu St. Louis during and after the recent World's 
 Fair dedication ceremonies a notable photograph 
 A\'as taken by Official Photographer Byrnes of the 
 Expostiou. It is a photograph that will belong to 
 history and to romance — to the romantic history of 
 the greatest American military commander and the 
 most famous citizen who ever lived in St. Louis, 
 Ul^^sses S. Grant. 
 
 The photograph represents the present Gen. 
 Grant, eldest son of the hero of Appomattox and of 
 a hundred hard-fought fields of victory, sitting on 
 horseback in front of a log cabin — but what log 
 cabin? It is the log house built nearly fifty years 
 ago by the liands that refused to receive the prof- 
 fered sword of Le(^ at Appomattox; the house that 
 Grant built, the rude structure wherein for four 
 years he resided Avith his family in St. Louis 
 County, struggling manfully but not very success- 
 fully to make a good living for liis wife and babes. 
 
 Frederick Dent Grant Avas one of those babes. 
 The present brigadier-general in the United States 
 army was born in the city of St. Louis, in 1850, and 
 from his fifth to his ninth year he lived in that old 
 cal)in, then newly-hewn out of the oak of the forest; 
 
OF GEN. U. G. GRANT. 75 
 
 with his baby brothers he played about its doorstep, 
 and sometimes he accompanied his father, Capt. 
 Grant, retired, to the woods along the Gravois road, 
 where the head of the family swung his ax all day 
 long, chopping trees into the cordwood that he 
 loaded upon his wagon and hauled into St. Louis, 
 nine miles away, to sell to the city people. There 
 were times when Capt. Grant, though wearied from 
 his day's work, picked up the little fellow and car- 
 ried him home upon his broad shoulders, to meet 
 the good wife standing in that cabin doorway and 
 to go in and eat tlie savory supper she had pre- 
 pared. 
 
 The visit of Brigadier-General Grant to the log 
 house was arranged by Mr. C. F. Blanke, present 
 owner of the cabin. Recently Mr. Blanke has had 
 the house removed to the World's Fair grounds, 
 where it was set up again, in proper place, just as it 
 appeared when Capt. "Lys" Grant lived there a few 
 years before the civil war. The site of the cabin is 
 upon the rearward summit of Art Hill, not far 
 from the growing Palace of Fine Arts. It is em- 
 bowered in trees, and from the windows of the 
 house one may look forth upon the great picture of 
 the Fair, 
 
 "In this spot," said Mr. Blanke to Gen. Grant, 
 "I propose that the log house shall stand until it 
 iJhall have rotted down — and may that day be many 
 generations hence." 
 
 In the photograph Gen. Grant appears mounted 
 upon Village Boy, Mr. Blanke's well-known horse. 
 The other men in the picture are Mr. Blanke and 
 
76 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 Lieut. Morej, Gen. Grant's aide. 
 
 While visiting the cabin Gen. Grant, who is 
 bronzed by campaigns in the Philippines, and 
 whose hair already is tinged with gray, was much 
 moved. He entered the cabin and pointed out the 
 room upstairs, to the right of the entrance, where 
 he slept with his little brothers. He told of long 
 winter evenings spent by the big fire-place in one 
 of the rooms downstairs, when Capt. Grant and his 
 wife and children sat in a semi-circle facing the 
 glowing back-log and talked of their prospects in 
 life. 
 
 Capt. Grant sometimes talked of his campaign 
 in Mexico, telling his little boys of his soldiering 
 experiences, and the children listened with avid 
 interest. The father also told them of his lonely 
 life on the Pacific coast, where he was stationed at 
 an army post far removed from his wife and little 
 Fred, and how homesick he became — so homesick 
 that he resigned his commission just after being 
 promoted to a captaincy and came back to St. Louis 
 to make a home for his family. 
 
 "And those were happy days in the log house," 
 said Mrs Julia Dent Grant, shortly before she died 
 last year, "and the eight years in the White House 
 were happy, too." — From the Post-Dispatch. 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 
 
 77 
 
 CYRUS F. BLANKE. Born in 
 Marine, 111., Oct. 24, 1861. Son 
 of Frederick G. and Caroline 
 Blanke. Cyrus F. Blanke re- 
 ceived his early school educa- 
 tion in Marine and his primary 
 business education in his fa- 
 ther's store. He later came to 
 St. Louis and enlered a business 
 college. 
 
 He is typical of the American 
 self-made man. At the age of 
 sixteen he accepted a clerkship in a retail grocery and soon 
 after was offered and accepted several positions with different 
 wholesale houses, the last one being a Tea and Coffee Con- 
 cern. His position in the House was soon advanced to that 
 of a traveling salesman, which he retained until he concluded 
 to go into business for himself. But in 1888, before embark- 
 ing in business, he decided to make a trip over Europe, with 
 a view to gathering any importants points from the different 
 countries that he intended to visit that might be of advan- 
 tage to him in his new enterprise. 
 
 In 1889, in a modest building on Second Street, he started 
 with his brother, R. H. Blanke, and H. A. Vogler as asso- 
 ciates, the Tea and Coffee firm which to-day is recognized as 
 the most complete coffee plant in the world. 
 
 Mr. Blanke was married in 1889 to Miss Eugenia Frowein. 
 He is a member of most of the prominent clubs, has always 
 been an active worker in all public enterprises for the wel- 
 fare and advancement of the city, and was a delegate to the 
 first meeting to discuss the promotion of one of the grandest 
 enterprises this country has ever seen, the Exposition cele- 
 brating the Louisiana Purchase, and was the second to sub- 
 scribe to the preliminary fund to carry the plan through. 
 
78 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 He is a Director of the Fair and a member of several commit- 
 tees. He is also an officer and director in several banks and 
 trust companies, and enjoys the distinction of having been 
 the youngest president ever elected by the Union Club. Mr. 
 Blanke's last public-spirited act was the purchase of the Log 
 Cabin built by General U. S. Grant in 1854, in order to pre- 
 serve it from destruction and it is his intention to present it 
 to the city after the World's Fair is over, providing the city 
 will agree to properly care for and preserve it as a historic 
 relic of one of America's greate.-t men. 
 
 In my travel through different foreign countries, 
 I was always pointed out the houses in which dif- 
 ferent celebrities were born and where they lived. 
 In all cases, these houses were preserved and taken 
 care of for the tourists who inspected them with 
 reverence and great interest. Amongst these tour- 
 ists I noticed that the Americans were always the 
 most interested and enthusiastic. Naturally the 
 thought always occurred to me, why is there not 
 some movement in our own country to preserve 
 such relics? I knew there was a house in the city 
 of St. Louis in which General Grant at one time 
 lived and a log cabin which he built himself and re- 
 sided in, still both were neglected by the commu- 
 nity and the people at large. 
 
 But these same people visiting foreign countries, 
 and finding just such relics, the most interesting 
 objects, houses of celebrities, not one as much en- 
 titled to recognition or worship as are the relics of 
 that great American soldier and statesman, Gen- 
 eral U. S. Grant. When the last owner of the 
 Grant cabin came to me and offered it for sale, I 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 79 
 
 was at once interested, as the impression of these 
 same kind of relics made on me when visiting for- 
 eign countries were still fresh in my memory and 
 I have always felt that if I ever had the time and 
 money I would get a movement on foot and arouse 
 an interest in at least one relic so far neglected in 
 this country and this relic I thought was entitled 
 to reverence, respect and admiration over any relic 
 ever connected with any great man. Here is a 
 cabin that was built by a man in his darkest days 
 of poverty and adversity ,and in which he himself 
 resided with his family, and only a matter of ten 
 years afterwards, the greatest man in not only his 
 own country, but the greatest man of his time with 
 the eyes of the world upon him. It is an object les- 
 son to every growing generation of this country, 
 especially to the boys, the price of which cannot 
 be valued in dollars and cents. This is why I 
 bought General Grant's cabin. 
 
RESOLUTIOM of THANKS 
 to 
 CYRUS P. BLANKS. 
 
 RESOLVED! That the hearty thahks of this Board are due and 
 are hereby tendered to Mr. Cyrus P. Blanke for his genepous cour- 
 tesy in allowing two logs to be cut from the Grant Cabin for thjB 
 purpose of framing the resolutioris of acknowledgment to Andrew 
 Carnegie for his gift to St, Louis. 
 
 I take pleasure in certifying that the above is a true and 
 correct transcript of a resolution adopted by the Board of 
 Directors of the St. Louis Public Library at a meeting held at the 
 Library on Priday, April 1, 1004. 
 Atl 
 
 ^^U^eycd?]. 
 
 Librarian and Secretary, 
 
80 
 
 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 JUDGE CHESTER H. KRUM. 
 Born September 13, 1840, in 
 Alton, 111. Son of Judge John 
 M. and Mary (Harding) 
 Krum. He received his early 
 education in the Washington 
 University, graduating in the 
 class of 18fi^ with the degree 
 of Bachelor of Arts. He took 
 the law course at Harvard, 
 graduating in 1865. Having 
 been admitted to the bar in 
 1864, he at once began the 
 practice of law in St. Louis, 
 becoming, in 1867, junior member of the firm of Krum, 
 Decker & Krum. 
 
 He was appointed United States District Attorney in 1869 
 by General Grant. He served in this capacity until 1872, 
 when he resigned and was elected a Judge of the St. Louis 
 Circuit Court, holding this office until 1875, when he resigned 
 to resume the practice of his profession, since which time he 
 has been identified with many of the most important cases 
 in the State and Federal Courts. 
 
 He was a member of the Faculty of the St. Louis Law 
 Schools from 1873 to 1882. F'rom 1864 until 1888 he took an 
 active part in politics as a Republican, but in the year last 
 named he supported the candidates on the Democratic ticket. 
 
 In the fall of 1876, shortly after the Presidential 
 election, I was in the "President's room" in the 
 White House. Gen. Grant (President) and I had 
 been talking about various matters. There had 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 81 
 
 been considerable excitement in regard to the re- 
 sult of the election and Col. Watterson had pro- 
 claimed in his paper that he was coming to Wash- 
 ington with 100,000 Kentuekians. The President, as 
 we sat looking out on the public grounds, asked me 
 if I had read the proclamation. I told him I had 
 read it and, thereupon, he made the following re- 
 markable statement. He said that it was not for 
 him to decide as between Tilden and Hayes. That 
 it was not a matter of official concern to him which 
 had been elected. "But," said he, "if Mr. Tilden is 
 declared to have been elected, if I have anything to 
 do in the matter, he will be placed in office with- 
 out a disturbance and the case will be the same 
 as to Mr. Hayes. Now, Chester," said he, "I did 
 not know what possible trouble there might be and 
 so I have had every battery of artillery that could 
 be brought here quietly packed in Washington, and 
 if Watterson comes, I will blow away his Kentuek- 
 ians and himself." The firm mouth of the Presi- 
 dent as the sentence ended gave all the assurance 
 needed that if the exigency arose, he would be as 
 good as his word. 
 
 ^-v. 
 
82 
 
 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 ■^.X' 
 
 DR. WM. TAUSSIG. Born 
 Feb. 28, 1826 in the city of 
 Prague, educated in the Uni- 
 versity of Prague. He came 
 to America in 1847 and re- 
 mained one year in New 
 Yorlc City as analytical 
 chemist. 
 
 In 1848 he reached St. 
 Louis and commenced the 
 practice of medicine. Dr. 
 Taussig, on account of his 
 experience, was of especial 
 service to the city during 
 the cholera epidemic in 1849. 
 
 ' In 1851 he removed to Carondelet, then an independent 
 city and not a part of St. Louis. He took an active part in 
 municipal affairs and was elected Mayor in 1852. In 1857 
 he married Miss Adele Wuerpel of St. Louis. 
 
 In 1859 he became one of the Judges of the St. Louis 
 County Court, his associates being John H. Lightner, Benj. 
 Farrar, Colonel Alton R. Easton and Peregrine Tibbets. In 
 1863 Dr. Taussig was re-elected to the County Court, and 
 was chosen as presiding Justice. While acting in this capac- 
 ity he passed en an application made by U. S. Grant for the 
 position as County Surveyor, the particulars of which will 
 be found in Dr. Taussig's article. 
 
 In 1865 he was appointed United State Internal Revenue 
 Collector by President Lincoln. At the close of the war he 
 became interested in Banking Institutions, and was elected 
 first President of the Traders' Bank. He later became inter- 
 ested, with Captain Jas. B. Eads, in the project to construct 
 8. bridge across the Mississippi River. 
 
 He has been identified with a number of railroad projects. 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 83 
 
 and has always carried them through successfully. In 1874, 
 when the bridge was completed, he was appointed general 
 manager of the St. Louis Bridge Co., Tunnel Railroad Co., 
 Union Railroad and Transit Co. and the Union Depot Co. 
 
 All of the above, later combined under the name of the 
 Terminal Railway Association of St. Louis, which corpora- 
 tion elected Dr. Taussig its President in ld89. 
 
 Soon after this Dr. Taussig retired from any active partici- 
 pation in public affairs, with the e.xception of his consent 
 to become one of the original Committee of Forty that con- 
 ceived and promoted the plan to celebrate the Louisiana 
 Purchase Exposition, on which occasion he was elected 
 Chairman of the Transportation Committee, but resigned, 
 preferring to take a less active part, although lending his 
 influence and financial support to the enterprise. 
 
 ADDRESS BEFORE THE MISSOURI HISTOR- 
 ICAL SOCIETY. 
 By Dr. Willl\m Taussig. 
 Mr. President and (Tentlemcn of the Missoiwl Hi^i- 
 toricttl Society: 
 
 In compliance with the request which the presi- 
 dent of our society has honored me, I <z;ather up, 
 from memory mainly, the few instances of my life 
 whicli hrouiiht me in contact, directly and indirect- 
 ly, with General Grant. Insip;nificant as they may 
 seem, tliey throw a sidelight, nevertheless, upon his 
 early struggles, upon the environments among 
 which he lived, and upon the patient, plodding 
 character of the num. 
 
 Our daily lives are made up of small events. 
 When our life work is done, and a restrospective 
 view of it is taken, then small events sometimes 
 show themselves to have been important factors in 
 its make-up and its final trend. This holds good 
 
84 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 with great men as well as with the average man, 
 and historians everywhere have picked up appar- 
 ently insignificant details in the early lives of their 
 subjects to show the formative influence which 
 these details had upon their future greatness. 
 Some of these small events relating to General 
 Grant which I have been privileged to witness, and 
 which in retrospect seem to me now to have more 
 historical significance than when they actually oc- 
 curred, I will hesitatingly relate to you, with some 
 of the local color which belongs to them. 
 
 I lived in Carondelet, a small city a few miles 
 below St. Louis, from 1850 to 18G3. It was then 
 a municipality of old-French Canadian origin, but 
 has long since been absorbed into the city of St. 
 Louis and forms now one of its most populous dis- 
 tricts. 
 
 In 1852 I became Mayor of the city of Caronde- 
 let. One of my first official acts was to direct the 
 hitherto neglected defense, in the U. S. Land Com- 
 missioner's office in Washington, against the claim 
 of Col. F. Dent, for the possession, under an old 
 Spanish grant, of a large portion of the Carondelet 
 commons which had been set aside by the old vil- 
 lage trustees for school purposes. Mr. Barrett, an 
 able lawyer and ex-member of Congress from St. 
 Louis, and the late Judge Wilson Primm, were 
 selected to represent the Carondelet side of the 
 case. The claim was finally decided, two years af- 
 ter my administration, against Dent. He had tried 
 very hard to get me to abandon the suit, and never 
 forgave me for insisting upon it. He was a gentle- 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 85 
 
 man of considerable energy, masterful in his ways, 
 of persistent combativeness, of the grim, set pur- 
 pose peculiar to the Southerners of the old genera- 
 tion, and was, where foiled, inclined to be vindic- 
 tive. He owned a large farm, called White Haven, 
 well stocked with slaves, a few miles below Caron- 
 delet. He was General Grant's father-in-law. 
 
 Much gossip was prevalent at the time of which 
 I speak, regarding troubles between the Dents and 
 some of their neighbors which would have no place 
 here except in so far as it throws a sidelight on the 
 surroundings into which General Grant stepped 
 upon his marriage, and in so far as it may have in- 
 fluenced his desire of getting away from the de- 
 pendency upon his father-in-law. 
 
 Adjoining the Dent farm was the farm of 
 "Colonels'' William and John Sigerson, both men 
 of wealth and importance. Their's was uminly a 
 nursery farm worked by white hands. They were 
 Southerners, but pronounced Union men. There 
 were continued feuds and quarrels between the 
 Dents and the Sigersons. Though I was quite inti- 
 mate with the latter, I never could find out what 
 was at the bottom of this mutual hostility. One 
 night all the haystacks and some outhouses of the 
 Sigersons were burned down. Busy tongues at 
 once connected this incident with the well-known 
 bad feeling existing between the two neighbors, 
 and spread the rumor that the stacks had been set 
 on fir(^ by the Dents. This rumor, of course, had not 
 the slightest foundation. The Dents, whatever their 
 animosity might have been, were highly respecta- 
 
86 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 ble gentlefolks and above doing a mean thing. But 
 the rumor must have reached them, and they at- 
 tributed its origin to the Sigersons. One morn- 
 ing young Fred Dent, son-in-law of Mr. Shurlds, 
 then cashier of the old Bank of the State of Mis- 
 souri, appeared in the streets of Carondelet with a 
 shotgun Ininting for Sigerson. I became aware of 
 it only when, that morning, William Sigerson 
 rushed excitedly into my oflQce and asked whether 
 I could let him have a gun or a pistol. "That fel- 
 low Dent," he said, "is after me, and I want to be 
 ready for him." Although I had a pistol, fearing 
 trouble I said that 1 had neither, and before I could 
 say a quieting word to him Sigerson rushed out 
 again. I ran after him to the door, and, looking 
 round, saw a crowd a square below, where the two, 
 Sigerson and Dent, had clinched, — Dent down and 
 Sigerson beating his head with a club. Soon after- 
 wards Dent was carried to my office, where I found 
 that his scalp was seriously injured by deep and 
 wide cuts. After superficial dressing I took him in 
 my buggy to his father-in-law's residence, which 
 was situated on the Carondelet road, now South 
 Broadway, near where the city workhouse is now 
 standing. After hovering between life and death 
 for some time he finally recovered. He afterwards 
 went to California, where he obtained some emi- 
 nence and later served, as I was informed, in ffie 
 civil war as a Union soldier, with a fine record. I 
 mention this incident with the others only as indi- 
 cating the temper and characteristics of the family 
 in the midst of which General Grant's lot was cast. 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 87 
 
 Though we saw each other often and knew each 
 other very well, as men in small communities do 
 even when there is no occasion for personal con- 
 tact, I never had occasion, beyond bowing to each 
 other, to speak to General Grant until after he was 
 President, upon matters which will be mentioned 
 later. I saw him frequently haul many of the now 
 historical carts of cord wood for sale in St. Louis 
 from his father-in-law's farm, past my home and 
 office. There was a blacksmith's shop opposite me, 
 and I can see him now as he then appeared, sitting 
 on a log in front of the shop, — a serious, dignified 
 looking man, with slouched hat, high boots, and 
 trousers tucked in, smoking a clay pipe and waiting 
 for his horses to be shod. 
 
 Nor did I ever set foot on the Dent farm, although 
 all the neighbors around it — the Longs, the Sap- 
 pingtons, the Paddel fords, etc. — were my close 
 friends, whom I frequently visited. The old gen- 
 tleman did not feel kindly toward me on account of 
 the land suit above mentioned, and because I was a 
 pronounced Republican and Union man. I always 
 at that time had the impression that this feeling — 
 meaning the political one — had been shared by 
 Grant. In this, as future events have shown, I was 
 mistaken. 
 
 The only member of the Grant family, with whom 
 I was intimate was William Barnard, whose wife 
 was a sister of Mts. Grant. The Barnard residence 
 was situated in a large plot of ground facing the 
 Stringtown road, on what is now the corner of 
 Merrimac street and Virginia avenue. It is still 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 standing, though now surrounded by inferior build- 
 ings. Barnard was a wholesale druggist, an amia- 
 ble, jovial man, very fond of hunting, and his yard 
 and garden were filled with wooden and cast iron 
 efiigies of stags, deer, and hunting dogs. He was 
 too fond of good living to succeed in business, and 
 failed early during the war. Grant, during his 
 Presidency, made him Bank Examiner for Mis- 
 souri, under the National Banking Law. 
 
 At the Barnard home I met Mrs. Grant frequent- 
 ly when she made some of her prolonged visits to 
 her sister, and occasionally was called to attend to 
 her children. Both Mrs. Grant and Mrs. Barnard 
 were charming, cultivated ladies, devoted to their 
 husbands and children. A family physician gets to 
 hear much that is kept from the general public, 
 and the, to say the least, dependent position which 
 Grant occupied in the house of his father-in-law 
 was frequently commented upon in my presence. 
 That he chafed under this condition of things was 
 evident from his desire to obtain a position that 
 would make him more independent. His effoits 
 in that direction made me an unconscious factor in 
 his destiny, as he later on acknowledged, under the 
 following circumstances : 
 
 Early in 1859 a serious defalcation in the St. 
 Louis County Court came to the surface. Its presi- 
 dent. Judge Hackney, decamped to California with 
 over 1300,000 of the county's money, leaving its 
 treasury almost empty. Great corruption was 
 found to exist, and the Legislature, then in session, 
 was appealed to to apply a remedy. There having 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 89 
 
 been no legal way to oust the members of that 
 court, except by the slow process of impeachment, 
 the Legislature adopted the radical method of abol- 
 ishing the court altogether and creating in its 
 stead a board of five County Comissioners, with 
 the same powers and official functions which the 
 old court possessed. The Legislature was Demo- 
 cratic and pro-slavery, and the five districts, each 
 of which had to elect one member, were, so laid out 
 by it as to insure the comissioners so elected to be 
 oi the same political faith. But the result was dif- 
 ferent ; three districts out of five went Republican, 
 and I was elected to represent one of the three. It 
 was the first dawn of pronounced Union sentiment 
 in Missouri. 
 
 In the month of August of that year Grant filed 
 his application addressed to the St. Louis County 
 Commissioners, for the position of Superintendent 
 of County Roads, a modest place with a yearly sal- 
 ary of fifteen hundred dollars. This application has 
 become historical ; its original, which still exists in 
 the archives of the court, has frequently been pub- 
 lished in fac simile. Nobody at that time dreamt 
 that historj' would concern itself about it or the 
 applicant. It was referred, as were all others, to 
 the member in whose district the applicant resided, 
 and it fell therefore to my lot to report upon it. It 
 stands in evidence of Grant's dignified pride that, 
 hard pressed as he was at the time, he never called 
 either on me or on any one of my colleagues in sup- 
 port of his application. Many strong letters from 
 prominent people of both parties, recommending 
 
90 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 him, came to me. My old and life-long friend, 
 Henry T. Blow, an ardent Union man, urged me 
 personally to recomend and support Grant for the 
 position. Much stress was laid on his needs, his 
 character and qualifications not being questioned. 
 It was a perplexing position for me. Everybody 
 knows how portentously already the clouds of dis- 
 union darkened the political horizon of the country 
 in the latter part of 1859. Then, already, in St. 
 Louis the disloyal "minute men" on the one side, 
 and the loyal "wide awakes' 'on the other, wer^ 
 closing ranks, and every issue, social or political, 
 was decided or acted upon as it affected this all- 
 absorbing question. The Dents, at least the old 
 gentleman, were known to be pro-slavery Demo- 
 crats, and lo use the harsh language of that period, 
 outspoken rebels. Grant lived with them, and 
 though nothing was known of his political views, 
 the shadow of their disloyalty necessarily fell on 
 him. AVe felt bound, foreseeing events to come, to 
 surround ourselves with officers whose loyalty to 
 the Union was unquestioned. Our court consisted 
 of John H. Lightner, Benjamin Farrar, Col. Alton 
 R. Easton, Peregrine Tibbets, and myself. Easton 
 and Tibbets were Democrats. Col. Easton was a 
 Union Democrat, an ex-officer of the Mexican war, 
 and had known Grant. Tibbets, a most estimable 
 gentleman, was a pro-slavery Democrat. I made 
 my report, adverse to Grant, verbally, and all but 
 Tibbets voted for F. Solomon, brother of the re- 
 nowned war Governor of Wisconsin, an excellent 
 civil engineer, who later served in the civil war as 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 91 
 
 Colonel of Artillery, and died of wounds received 
 in battle. In his Memoirs, p. 212, General Grant 
 alludes to this episode in his life, and concludes 
 with the following: words: "My opponent had the 
 advantage of birth over me (he was a citizen by 
 adoption) and carried off the prize." In this he 
 evidently makes it appear as though Solomon was 
 chosen because he was a German. As I was the 
 only German-born member of the board, and the 
 other four Avere Americans, he evidently wrote this 
 under misapprehension. How anxious Grant was 
 to obtain that position appears from the following 
 letter written six months later: 
 
 St. Louis, Feb. 13, 18G0. 
 "Hon. J. H. Lightner, Pres. Board of County Com- 
 missioners. 
 
 "Sir: — Should the office of County Engineer be 
 vacated by the will of your honorable body, I would 
 respectfully renew the application made by me in 
 August last for that appointment. I would also, 
 by leave, refer to the application and recommenda- 
 tions then submitted and now on file with your 
 board. I am, sir, 
 
 "Respectfully your obt. Svt, 
 
 "U. S. Grant.'' 
 
 ( The original of this letter is in possession of the 
 Missouri Historical Society in St. Louis.) 
 
 After this occurrence Grant left the farm, moved 
 to St. Louis, where he entered, without succeeding, 
 into the real estate business, and then completely 
 dropped out of sight and memory of the St. Louis 
 people. Not until he had gained his first laurels at 
 
92 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 Belmont, Missouri, did the name strike his former 
 neighbors, and people asked each other whether 
 this could be the same Grant, Dent's son-in-law — 
 the same slow, seemingly indolent and apathetic 
 man, whom they had seen drive a team of cord wood 
 from his father-in-law's woods, and whom they had 
 never believed to be much of a man. 
 
 Events marched rapidly. The victory at Fort 
 Donelson turne<l the eyes of the whole country 
 toward Grant and gained him the Major-General- 
 ship. Soon after this he visited St. Louis, and 
 among others, called on his friend, Henry T. Blow, 
 then member of Congress. Mr. Blow on the fol- 
 loAving day brought me substantially the following 
 message from him: "I wish you would tell Dr. 
 Taussig that I feel much indebted to him for having 
 voted against me when I applied for the position of 
 Road Superintendent. Had he supported me I 
 might be in that obscure position to-day, instead of 
 being Major-General." 
 
 There can be little doubt that these remarks re- 
 flected his own honest opinion of himself. Natur- 
 ally his military genius, as it gradually developed, 
 gave rise to many discussions among the St. Louis 
 people who had known him in the dark day prior to 
 the war. They asked each other whether any of 
 them ever had an idea as to the powers that were 
 hidden under the surface of this silent, phleg- 
 matic man. The great military genius, the dominat- 
 ing firmness of character, the fine personal quali- 
 ties, and even the literary ability as shown in his 
 dispatches and in his memoirs, were all there, but 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 93 
 
 dormant, only awaiting a stimulus to waken them 
 into activity — a spark to fire them up to warmth 
 and life. The civil war proved to me that spark; 
 without it the genius in him might have slumbered 
 on without awakening, and what was hidden in 
 him might never have come to the surface. Had 
 he been in the possession of a snug little office, with 
 sufficieint income to live comfortably with his wife 
 and children, independent of his father-in-law, it is 
 at least a debatable question whether, at the out- 
 break of the war, he would have shaken off his 
 easy-going indolence and volunteered into the ser- 
 vice. When he did so it was onl}' after he had made 
 a failure of the tanning business in Galena and 
 after his father and brother could do nothing fur- 
 ther for him. So his own admission that "had he 
 been in office as Road Superintendent he might still 
 be so," was at that time shared by all who knew 
 him, and is still my honest belief. On a later oc- 
 casion, to which I shall refer hereafter, he indirect- 
 ly expressed this view to me. 
 
 Unquestionably his dependent position at Dent's 
 had soured him, perhaps led him to those habits of 
 occasional intemperance ( which had received much 
 wider notice than there was warrant for) and made 
 him Avisli for any change. 
 
 The following occurrence may tend to illustrate 
 the temper of his father-in-law toward him after the 
 fall of Fort Donelson. I was driving with John 
 Fenton Long, who was then occupying the position 
 of Road Superintendent that Grant had applied 
 for, a near neighbor of Dent's and one of the most 
 
94 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 devoted friends of Grant, under whom he after- 
 wards occupied several high offices, when, at a 
 cross-road, we met Col. Dent, and stopping, en- 
 gaged in conversation. Long mentioned the famous 
 victory that Grant had accomplished at Fort Don- 
 nelson, when Dent, interrupting him angrily, said: 
 "Don't talk to be about this Federal son-in-law of 
 mine. There shall always be a plate on my table 
 for Julia, but none for him." From this remark 
 I inferred at once that I had done Grant an injus- 
 tice ; that he had always been a Union man and had 
 incurred Dent's displeasure on that account. How 
 little did this old man foresee the great honor that 
 was in store for him by being permitted to sit at 
 the presidential table of his son-in-law. 
 
 Years passed, and in 1868, Grant became Presi- 
 dent. He had been a warm friend and admirer of 
 Capt. Jas. B. Eads, the famous engineer who de- 
 signed and built the St. Louis bridge. Early in its 
 inception, being also a warm friend of Capt. Eads, 
 I became interested in the enterprise, and having 
 been forced by ill-health to abandon my profession, 
 joined the directory of the Bridge Company in 1867 
 and became the general manager of that corpora- 
 tion, with which I am still identified. In the early 
 stages of the bridge enterprise, the steamboat men 
 of St. Ix)uis opposed it, without avail, however, in 
 the Legislature, in Congress, and in the Municipal 
 Assembly. They opposed the erection of any bridge 
 whatever, ostensibly because their high chimneys 
 could not pass under bridges at high water, but 
 really because they thought that railroad bridges 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 95 
 
 would seriously affect the river trade. Foremost 
 among the opponents were Capt. McCune and Capt. 
 Sam. Gaty, of the St. Louis and Keokuk line of 
 steamboats? As is well known, the Bridge Com- 
 pany had to struggle against great physical and 
 technical difficulties, consequent upon the novelty 
 of the engineering features of that structure; but 
 finally, in 1873, after its great piers were sunk and 
 the ponderous arches erected, the owners of the 
 Keokuk Packet Line filed a complaint with the 
 Secretary of War, that the bridge was an obstruc- 
 tion to comerce, because the smoke stacks of their 
 boats could not pass under the bridge at high water 
 without lowering, and they asked for the removal 
 of the structure on this account. It became at once 
 evident to us that this complaint was not filed with 
 the former Secretary of War, Judge Taft, of Cin- 
 cinnati, father of the present Governor of Manila, 
 and before the structure was practically completed, 
 because there was no chance of its then being seri- 
 ously entertained, but that now General Belknap 
 ( of unsavory record ) , a Keokuk man, and a friend 
 of McCune and Gaty, being Secretary, there was a 
 chance for his town folk and intimate friends. It 
 was intimated at the time that Belknap was inter- 
 ested in that line, but it is not known whether 
 such was the case. 
 
 At all events the Secretary, immediately upon 
 the filing of this petition, appointed a commission 
 of army engineers, Col. Simpson presiding, to in- 
 quire into this alleged obstruction. That commis- 
 sion appeared, took ex parte testimony from steam- 
 
96 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 boat men only, refused the Bridge Company and its 
 counsel, Gen. John W. Noble, any hearing and ar- 
 bitrarily closed the proceedings before the Bridge 
 Company could take breath. 
 
 To the astonishment of the whole community the 
 commission reported to the Secretary that although 
 the bridge had been constructed in exact accordance 
 with the act of Congress, it nevertheless was an 
 obstruction to navigation and should be taken 
 down, or that a ship canal should be built around 
 it at its eastern end, and that the whole matter be 
 reported to Congress for its action in the premises. 
 A few days later after the rendering of this report 
 we learned that it had been approved by the Sec- 
 retary and ordered to be filed for reference to Con- 
 gress. 
 
 Everybody in St. Louis was astounded at that 
 report. It was ridiculed by the press and the com- 
 ment on the Secretary's action was very severe. 
 To the Bridge Company, however, it was a matter 
 of serious concern. Over six millions of money 
 had already been expended, and financial negotia- 
 tions for the means to complete the structure were 
 then pending which would have failed if the exist- 
 ence of the structure were in peril through a recom- 
 mendation of the Secretary to Congress to have it 
 removed. 
 
 In this emergency Capt. Eads and I concluded to 
 appeal to the President, and on a hot July morning 
 of the same 3^ear, we appeared at the White House, 
 sent in our cards, and were promptly admitted. 
 Upon our entering his cabinet President Grant met 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 97 
 
 Capt. Eads with outstretched hands, greeting him 
 warmly, and then, turning toward me, said, with 
 a facetious smile, while shaking hands with me: 
 "How are you, Judge." I noticed the allusion at 
 once and said : ^'^Mr. President, by addressing me as 
 'Judge' I hope you do not recall a former event 
 w^hich weighed heavily on my mind ever since you 
 have attained your high position." He laughed 
 and said : "Oh, no ; you see how much better it is 
 than it might have been." 
 
 We stated our case and he listened seriously and 
 attentively. He had never heard of this commis- 
 sion, — its appointment or action. After a while he 
 rang the bell and sent for the Secretary. General 
 Belknap soon entered, and the President at once, 
 rapidly and curtly, asked him a few categorical 
 questions, — had the bridge been built in accordance 
 with the provisions of the aet of Congress, and had 
 the structure been approved by the former Secre- 
 tary of War? Belknap said yes, but claimed the 
 general authority under the law given to the Secre- 
 tary of War to remove obstructions to navigation, 
 and offered to send for all the papers in the case. 
 
 The President said nothing for a while, and then, 
 with that peculiar firm set of his lower jaw, sub- 
 stantially said : "I do not care to look at the pa- 
 pers. You certainly cannot remove this structure 
 on your own judgment. If Congress were to order 
 its removal it would have to pay for it. I would 
 hardly do that in order to save high smokestacks 
 from being lowered when passing under the bridge. 
 If vour Keokuk friends feel aggrieved let them 
 
98 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 sue the bridge people for damages. I think, Gen- 
 eral, you had better drop the ease." 
 
 Belknap, whose face had colored to a deep red, 
 rose, and, with a bow, left the cabinet. We left 
 soon, with warm thanks, and were enabled to in- 
 form the public and our bankers that this vexatious 
 proceeding had been entirely abandoned by order 
 of the President. 
 
 After this occurrence President Grant visited our 
 bridge office and inspected the progress of the work 
 every time he came to St. Louis. I remember par- 
 ticularly one raw, cold November day in 1873, 
 when he came to our office, accompanied by the late 
 Capt. Cozzens and Mr. Chauncey I. Filley, and 
 went out Avith Capt. Eads and Col. Hy. Flad, the 
 assistant chief engineer, to walk over the first two 
 arches, over which only a few narrow planks had 
 been laid. It was hard and risky work, even for 
 those accustomed to it, but as Col. Flad told me, the 
 President walked over it fearlessly and took in ev- 
 erything that was shown him with much interest. 
 Upon the return of the party Capt. Eads took a bot- 
 tle of brandy out of his closet, I brought out my 
 box of cigars, and we all sat down around a 
 draughtsman's deal table. The President and those 
 with him were nearly frozen and he and they en- 
 joyed the brandy. He smoked cigars rapidly and 
 had them half chewed up when he threw them away. 
 His conversation and demeanor were as quiet, mod- 
 est and unassuming as those of any private citizen. 
 While looking at him I bad always to recall to my 
 mind and to realize that it was not an ordinary 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 
 
 99 
 
 citizen who sat and chatted at this table, but the 
 greatest man of his time. 
 
 History has already inscribed this great char- 
 acter, and what the country owes to him, upon its 
 tablets, but only a few have been privileged to know 
 his plain and unassuming disposition, the ease with 
 which he turned from the lofty eminence of the 
 presidential chair into the position of a plain citi- 
 zen, the loyalty with which he clung, often to his 
 own discomfort and disparagement, to old friends 
 and adherents, and withal the quiet, impressive 
 dignity which distinguished this unpretending 
 democratic citizen President. 
 
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 Very rMpcctfnlly, 
 
100 
 
 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 Htical ticket. 
 
 DR. EMIL PRE- 
 rORIUS, Editor-in- 
 Chief and President of 
 t Ii e Westliclie Post. 
 Born March 15, 1827, 
 in Alzey, Rheinhessen, Ger- 
 many. He graduated in law 
 at Giessen and Heidelberg. 
 On account of political differ- 
 ences he left Germany in 1849, 
 and came directly to St. Louis. 
 
 Having a natural taste for pol- 
 itics, he in 1860 espoused the 
 cause of Abraham Lincoln. In 
 1862 was elected to the Missouri 
 Legislature. Since then, while 
 always active in every public 
 movement, he has declined to 
 let his name appear on any po- 
 
 I met Captain Grant early in the fifties, at which 
 time he was seeking- employment here in the engi- 
 neering line; and later on I knew him as a member 
 of the Grant Leather Firm at Galena, 111. In both 
 capacities, however, he drew on himself the especial 
 attention of neither myself nor of others. That 
 condition changed, of course, with the outbreak of 
 the war, when I first met him pei*sonally and most 
 cordially at Gen. Fremont's headquarters on Chou- 
 teau avenue. From there he proceeded forthwith 
 with a commission of the Commanded-in-Chief to 
 Paducah, where and afterwards at Belmont, he 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 
 
 101 
 
 won his first laurels at the head of his brigade. Dur- 
 ing Johnson's term I came in closer contact with 
 him, when the WestlicJie Post became actively en- 
 gaged in bringing him out as a Presidential candi- 
 date. My last couA^ersation with Gen. Grant oc- 
 curred at the time we were both goiests of Mr. 
 Henry Villard, on the celebrated western trip in 
 September, 1883, on the occasion of the opening of 
 the Northern Pacific R. R. While not claiming 
 anything in the nature of an intimate acquaintance 
 with the Old Commander and great leader, I hare 
 known and seen enough of him, to concur fully and 
 understandingly in the nation's appreciation of 
 Ulysses S. Grant. 
 
 ', \_/^t.C/.1^«^T.^^<-l- 
 
10^ 
 
 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 out St. Louis County 
 ''Trip." 
 
 N. REAVIS. Born Nov. 21^ 
 1835, in St. Louis County, 
 where he has resided all his 
 life, with the exception of 
 two and one-half years serv- 
 ice in Company H. Missouri 
 Confederate Volunteers. Mr. 
 Reavis had many exciting ex- 
 periences while acting as a 
 carrier of dispatches between 
 Colonel Porter and General 
 Price. He Is known through 
 and the state by the nickname of 
 
 One evening in the fall, directly after the Mexi- 
 can war, two horsemen, riding westward on the 
 Big Bend road in St. Louis county, drew near to 
 the old homestead (in which I then lived) and sa- 
 luted with a "Hello,'- which was answered by my 
 older brother and myself. It was after dusk and 
 the horsemen had lost their way. One of them 
 asked my brother if he could direct them to Col. 
 Dent's farm. My brother thought for a moment 
 and replied, "I do not know any 'Colonel' around 
 here, but old man Dent lives on the Gravois creek 
 about two miles distant," and being set right the 
 two horsemen passed on. They were U. S. (then 
 Captain ) Grant and his future brother-in-law, Lew 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 103 
 
 Dent. This began my acquaintance with the future 
 President of the United States. Years passed be- 
 fore I saw him again and it was not until after his 
 marriage and lie had taken up his residence at the 
 Dent homestead and we had become neighbors of 
 fair proximity in those days that I had any rela- 
 tions with him. 
 
 It must have been in the winter of 1853 or 1854 
 that Jonali Sappington and myself entered into an 
 arrangement with Capt. Grant in regard to a quan- 
 tity of cord wood. At the time of the settlement 
 a disagreement arose as to the amount, for which 
 payment was to be made, and Capt. Grant proposed 
 arbitration of our differences, Mr. Sappington and 
 myself to appoint one of the arbitrators and Capt. 
 Grant anotlier, decision to be left to them, the ex- 
 pense of this adjustment to be borne by which ever 
 party was shown to be in the wrong. This plan 
 proving entirely acceptable, I named Ben Lovejoy, 
 a neighbor, as our choice as arbitrator. Capt. 
 Grant imediately met this proposition with the 
 statement that Mr. Lovejoy was entirely satisfac- 
 tory to him and it was decided that the finding of 
 Mr. Lovejoy should be final. The decision was in 
 our favor and adverse to Capt. Grant, who at once 
 paid the bill in accordance with the agreement. 
 This is the only business deal in which I ever en- 
 tered with the future President. At that time 
 Grant was engaged in the hauling of wood and the 
 old wagon with span of white and black horses was 
 a familiar sight on the Reavis Jefferson Barracks 
 road and the Gravois road. I have heard it stated 
 
104 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 that he used a yoke of oxen for hauling, but this is 
 incorrect as he owned one of the best pulling teams 
 in those parts. It was his boast that his span of 
 black and white could pull a load of 60 bushels of 
 wheat on the dirt roads, which were none too good 
 for heavy hauling in those days. 
 
 I met Grant a great many times during the early 
 50's and in the spring of '55 was present at the 
 building of his log cabin. On this particular day 
 I had been obliged to cease work by an attack of 
 ague, but later in the day feeling improved I was 
 attracted to the Grant place by the sound of axes 
 and saws and found the log cabin in active course 
 of construction. It was a typical house raising of 
 early days, familiar then but long since passed out 
 of custom. The trees had been felled and the logs 
 hewed and scored by Grant himself in preparation 
 of the event; neighbors had ridden in and under 
 Grant's direction timbers were raised and before 
 sundown the cabin was practically — with the ex- 
 ception of the roof — completed, this portion being 
 left to be finished by the owner the following day, 
 Grant carrying up one corner of the cabin. Those 
 who were present and who assisted in the raising 
 of the cabin were : 
 
 Harrison Long, Upshaw McCormick, Zeno Mac- 
 key, Thaddius Lovejoy, Perry Sappington, Lint 
 Sappington, Mr. Wise. 
 
 Grant and family occupied this house for several 
 years until he gave up the peaceful pursuit of the 
 field. As a farmer Grant was a hard worker and 
 his lack of success was not due to any lack of efifort 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 
 
 105 
 
 He did not know how to get the results out of ag- 
 riculture and this was the sole cause of his failure 
 as a farmer. 
 
 The last time I saw Grant was at the surrender 
 of Ft. Donnellson, the 16th of February, 1862, 
 when our forces were taken prisoners and the 
 sword of surrender awarded to General Grant. He 
 visited his old home in 1863 or 1864, but I did not 
 see him at that time. I was advised, however, that 
 he had given it out that he would be glad to do any- 
 thing possible for any of "the boys" in the neighbor- 
 hood. 
 
 -^anj^-ey} 
 
106 
 
 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 fi^;^^ 
 
 The opening of the 
 centennial and Grant's 
 ,^ last smoke are contri- 
 
 'f' butions hy Mr. C. E. 
 
 Meade, a newspaper 
 correspondent ot such widespread 
 reputation and popularity that lit- 
 tle reference is called for in the 
 wav of introductory. 
 
 He was born on July 
 25, 1850, and is known as one of the young old men. His serv- 
 ices as a writer have been engaged by the leading newspapers 
 and magazines of the country for the past 35 years, and be- 
 ing a man of more than ordinary ability, his assignments were 
 such as to keep him in close touch with events of national in- 
 terest. 
 
 The two anecdotes that follow date back to a period when 
 as a journalist for one of America's leading publications, he 
 was assigned to special work, which enabled him to study 
 some of the characteristics of General Grant. 
 
 GENERAL GRANT'S LAST SMOKE. 
 
 It was ill the autumn of '82 that I landed at my 
 old home, Goshen, N. Y., where I had not visited in 
 many j^ears. I learned that Gen. Grant was visit- 
 ing at- the Goldsmith stock farm, some five or six 
 miles below the town. The impulse to go down 
 there grew stronger and the second day after my ar- 
 rival at Goshen I drove out through the historic 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 107 
 
 old town where Geu. AA'ashingtiurs headquarters 
 stood for half a (-(^iitiiry after the revolution had 
 t'losed. 
 
 It was a perfect October day, as the tine Haniil- 
 tonian that I drove glided ont the wide street that 
 is lined as you near the suburbs Avitli relics of 
 Colonial days. The old Gen. Wickhani residence 
 still stood surrounded by its great park and grand 
 old oak trees. In the attic of this old mansion when I 
 Avas a boy, over 40 years ago, with others of nij' age, 
 I rummaged the historic building looking for relics 
 of the past ; but never was rewarded with anything 
 in particular until some carpenters came to make 
 changes in the structure which had been bought by 
 Iv. H. Burdell, president of the Erie railroad, and a 
 staunch partisan and friend of Gen. Grant in war 
 times. It Avas then the mechanics unearthed a 
 great roll of Continental money, of no value except 
 as relics of the Revolutionary times. The bulk of 
 the primitive old scrip was sent to Gen. Grant at 
 the close of the war by Mr. Burdell. 
 
 I remend)er as I neared the famous farm of Alden 
 Goldsmith, the most noted breeder of tine trotters 
 in the country, I caught a glimpse of the Wallkill 
 river stretching away like a great belt of silver 
 past Stoney Ford, near which the Goldsmith place 
 was located along the banks of the peerless stream 
 I noticed that the burrs of the chestnut trees along 
 the road were wide open, and I tied the horse to 
 the fence, got out and picked up a pocket full. 
 
 When I drove up to the Goldsmith place, 1 saw the 
 famous horseman and the more famous soldier view- 
 
108 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 ing- some flue colts in the yard of one of the great 
 stables, and I at once turned in, when a stable man 
 took the horse I was driving in charge, and I walked 
 over to where the owner of the farm and the Gen- 
 eral were, standing. Mr. Goldsmith came forward 
 and I renewed a boyhood acquaintance that was 
 formed when I was a printers' devil on the Goshen 
 Democrat, conducted by my uncle, after whom I 
 was named, and one of the oldest papers in the 
 State of New York. 
 
 Mr. Goldsmith presented me to Gen. Grant as a 
 relative of Gen. George G. Meade, of Gettysburg 
 fame and representative of a New York paper. The 
 General looked worn and somewhat haggard, but 
 he was the same unassuming Grant that the world 
 knew so well. 
 
 Conversation drifted along through channels of 
 no imtioual importance for awhile, when I^dove 
 do^^ 11 into my pocket and drew forth a handful of^ 
 the chestnuts I had gathered and handed them to 
 Gen. Grant, which he took, thanking me in His quiet 
 way and remarking: 
 
 ''Ah ! these remind me of my early lays at West 
 Point and the more recent and stirring times down 
 in Virginia. I have always been fond of chestnuts, 
 and have gathered many of them, but I am afraid 
 my aftlictioii will i)r()hibit my swallowing these." 
 
 "I'll tix them all right. General. I will have them 
 boiled, and then they are as soft as cooked pota- 
 toes/' said Mr. Goldsmith. 
 
 "All right, Goldsmith, you iiia3^ be the doctor," 
 replied Grant with a smile. 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 109 
 
 Grant was suffering at the time with the can- 
 cerous growth in liis throat, and came away out in 
 Orange county for a change of scene and a brief 
 visit and recreation at the beautiful stock farm by 
 the rippling Wallkill river. 
 
 tShortly after the chestnut incident, the Gen- 
 eral took out his cigar case, passing it to Mr. Gold- 
 smith and myself, then silenth^ picking one out and 
 liolding it between his fingers, he looked at it sadly 
 for a moment. 
 
 "Gentlemen," he said, and I thought there was 
 a slight quaver in his voice, "this is the last cigar 
 I shall ever smoke. The doctors tell me that I will 
 never live to finish the work on which my whole en- 
 ergy is centered these days (meaning the memoirs 
 he was engaged in writing at the time), if I do not 
 cease indulging in these fragrant weeds. It is 
 hard to give up an old and cherished friend, that 
 has been your comforter and solace through many 
 weary nights and days. But my unfinished work 
 must be completed, for the sake of those that are 
 near and dear to me;" and then the General slowly 
 lighted the solacing torch and for a few moments 
 gazed over the browning fields and the rich coloring 
 of the autumn foliage among which myriads of mi- 
 grating blackbirds made merry as they clung to the 
 limbs, and the golden sunshine filled, the Avorld 
 about us with a wealth of autumn glories. Still 
 amidst the beauty of the surroundings a sadness 
 filled my heart tliat hushed my lips to silence as 
 I contemplated the stricken hero before me slowly 
 puffing his last cigar. 
 
110 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 I left shortly afterward, and the pathetic picture 
 hovered like a pall, making the glory of the autumn 
 skies seem dull and dreary as I drove swiftly 
 through scenes that would have gladdened my soul 
 under different circumstances. 
 GENERAL GRANT AT THE CENTENNIAL. 
 
 The only l*resident of these United States who 
 lias participated personally in the ceremonies at- 
 tending the opening of a great exposition was 
 Ulysses S. Grant. He touched no magic button 
 at long range to fornmlly start the Avheels and flags 
 flying at the Centennial of 187(), but stood out upon 
 the steps of the speakers' stand, facing tlie multi- 
 tude in front of the middle entrance of the main 
 building, and directly in front of the Art Gallery, 
 in the midst of soldiers, civilians and the diplomatic 
 corps representing all the civilized nations, looked 
 over the vast sea of faces, down the lines of marines 
 that guarded the l)road walk from the terrace on 
 which the stand was erected. 
 
 Slowly he turned his eyes from building to build- 
 ing as if to note the ju'esence of the furled flags and 
 then taking off his hat, he raised his right hand, 
 and waved it in a sweeping circle that took in the 
 groups of buildings. Instantly the eyes of the multi- 
 tude saw a flag creeping up the staff of every build- 
 ing. 
 
 Just as the wind that came soft and gentle from 
 far off southland caught and unfurled to the glori- 
 ous sunshine and balmy air our starry emblems 
 the bands burst forth with the '^Star Spangled Ban- 
 ner," wafting the inspiring strains far across the 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. Ill 
 
 flowering- vistas that stretched out to the Schuylkill 
 and far down towards the Wissihicken. 
 
 One grand shout went up from the wildly en- 
 thused mass of patriots, while the Old Commander 
 stood forth in bold relief, still uncovered, his face 
 aglow. That old flag that he and his brave follow- 
 ers had so herocially fought for was an inspiration 
 that Avell might stir the patriot's heart and soul to 
 their very depths. 
 
 The group that flanked the President was all life 
 and aninmtion. Beautifull}' gowned ladies, and the 
 shine of the gilded uniforms of the oflicers, blended 
 in harmonious colorings that gave more light and 
 life to the scene. 
 
 That picture rises before me now as vividly as it 
 stood out in the sunshine of that matchless May 
 day in 1876. 
 
 Probably five minutes had elapsed, when Presi- 
 dent Grant turned, bowing before the Empress of 
 Brazil, the Consort of Dom Pedro, the stately, sil- 
 ver haired ruler of that country by the tropic sea. 
 The President offered his arm to the Empress. She 
 was slightly taller than the hero of Appomatox, but 
 as she took the proffered arm and started with the 
 President to lead the way to the middle entrance to 
 the main building, one forgot the difference in 
 height of the two, to gaze upon the stalwart form 
 of Dom Pedro as he stepped to the side of Mrs. 
 Grant to present himself as her escort. 
 
 The head of the Brazilian government was a 
 striking figure as he came down the steps with the 
 wife of America's most eminent citizen and soldier 
 
112 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 Oil his arm, iiiimediateh' behind his wife and the 
 riesident. FoHowing came Gen. Hawley, the 
 director of the Centennial Expo>sition, with some 
 hidy wliom I cannot now recall ; then followed the 
 others down the sunny steps, throiiiih lines of 
 Uncle Sam's sea soldiers, with presented arms 
 formin<>- a procession strikingly resplendent and im- 
 pressive. 
 
 The spirit of '76 was in the genial air, and the 
 matchless hhie of heaven, with here and there a 
 cloud Hoating like a snow wraith across its azure 
 dome, the green sward, the flowers, the rustling fol- 
 iage of the trees and the bright sunshine over all, 
 tended to add to the inspiring scenes as they shifted 
 and shimmered. 
 
 Patriotism was rampant until it rode rough shod 
 over all. 
 
 As the procession reached the place where I was 
 standing, just outside the ropes, next the marines, 
 I watched an opportunity and slipi)ed unobserved 
 under and passed down with the <jthers and into the 
 main building. No one interfered, and with news- 
 paper instinct I looked for every incident that could 
 tend to build a story for the day. 
 
 Tliere were many things to write about, but the 
 climax came in about twenty minutes after the en- 
 trance of the dignitaries into tlie great structure. 
 President (xrant had led the party toward the east 
 entrance along the south side of the building, re- 
 turning westward by the northern aisle, intending 
 to pass on and out by the extreme western entrance 
 and thence to machinerv hall. 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 113 
 
 Just about the time the Presidential party was 
 passinji- the point were it had entered tlie building, 
 by some oversight or mistake the doors were thrown 
 wide oiJen, wlien a wild rush of men, women and 
 children came in like a torrent, as resistless as the 
 wild watere that laid waste the beautiful valley of 
 the Connimaw when the North Fork dam broke, 
 sending its floods roaring into gorges, carrying 
 everything as they sped on to deal a death Idow at 
 the heartof Johnstown, just at a time when the 
 white bloom of the laurels was floating down from 
 the mountain side and the perfume of the rose gar- 
 dens that bordered the resistk^ss river were fllling 
 the erstwhile peaceful June air with tlieir fra- 
 grance. 
 
 It was a boisterous tide of humanity that came 
 surging in upon the I'residcnt an<l his guests, push- 
 ing uuiuy of them aside with a shocking rudeness 
 that marred the harmony and disturbed the equilib- 
 rium of many of the dignitaries. 
 
 AVith the Spanish ministers party tliere was a 
 beautiful dark eyed girl of not more than eigh- 
 teen years, gowned and decked in Spanish colors. 
 Pdack and .vellow satin were the materials and col- 
 ors of the artistic dress. Kich and rare was tlie 
 lace of the trimmings. The train was elegant and 
 sweeping. Her bright and animated face drew the 
 admiring gaze of every one that saw it. But all 
 people and faces hxvked alike to the stampeding 
 patriots as they pressed on shouting like wild In- 
 dians. 
 
 The l»eautiful Spanish niaiden was swept away 
 
114 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 from her escort by the torrent of humanity ; 
 whirled along like a pillow on the crest of a flood. 
 
 General Hartranft, who was then Governor of 
 the Keystone State, rushed into the thickest of the 
 mob to rescue the girl from her disagreeable en- 
 vironment, his tall soldierly form looming up above 
 the rabble as he shouted : 
 
 "Gentlemen! Gentlemen! Have some respect for 
 our invited guests." 
 
 Some coarse and unruly tongue from the invad- 
 ing mob hurled back in loud and brutal tones, that 
 sounded high above the din of the moment: "To 
 h — 1 with you and your guests! We are as good 
 as they are." 
 
 The tide was sweeping the bewildered daughter 
 of Spain farther and farther away from her 
 friends, while Governor Hartranft was desperately 
 struggling to reach her side. He finally succeeded. 
 Picking her up in his arms he carried her out of 
 her dilemma, placing her in front of President 
 Grant, who gently took her by the hand, expressing 
 his solicitude and deep regret for the indignity 
 placed upon her, and leading her to her friends. 
 
 She was dishevelled but game. She laughed 
 heartily as she glanced down at her torn gown, the 
 trail of which Avas rent and badly soiled. Her hat 
 had been knocked into a cocked one, making her 
 look really funny, but the incident did not seem 
 to upset her in the least, and as soon as she was 
 fixed up a little, she was ready to move on with the 
 procession. 
 
 The crowd scurried to all parts of the great build- 
 
I 
 
 OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 115 
 
 ing, but kept away from the old soldier President, 
 who looked dangerous for a few moments. 
 
 ^'That crowd came like an infantry charge or the 
 rush of foot ball players," remarked the Old Com- 
 mander as the party moved westward. ''I believe 
 those men will be sorry for their rash and rude acts 
 when they think it over. If this building should 
 suddenly take fire what chance would women and 
 children stand of succor and safety with a mob like 
 that !" concluded the President as the partj^ passed 
 out the western entrance, where the state fenciblef? 
 lined up in their Continental uniforms as the guard 
 of honor. 
 
 The President's ej^es glistened as they swept 
 down the lines of the pride of Philadelphia's sol- 
 diery. Turning to Dom Pedro Oen. Grant rtr 
 marked : 
 
 '^Emperor, you see that the spirit of '76 and the 
 memory of Valley Forge still lives in this city where 
 the cradle of liberty rocked the world, and the sign- 
 ers of the Declaration of Independence lighted the 
 torch of freedom to illume it." 
 
 "Every one should be proud that they are Ameri- 
 cans to-day, surely," replied the Emperor. " 'Tis 
 truly inspiring," 
 
 Many an old soldier in the ranks of the fencibles, 
 who had followed the Old Commander on trying 
 marches and on bloody fields of battle could hardly 
 restrain their enthusiasm as the soldier-President 
 moved along their lines and when the party had 
 disappeared into machinery hall a great shout went 
 up from the soldiers in the uniforms of Washington 
 
116 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 and the heroes of his time. 
 
 The party moved on to the great Corliss engine, 
 where the President jiuUed the lever that started 
 acres of machinery, with their thousands of wheels, 
 in motion. No one was admitted to machinery hall 
 until the President's party had moved across to 
 the government building, which Gen. Grant seemed 
 loth to leave. He explained the workings of the 
 Gatling guns, near which the party spent all the 
 time that was thought could be spent under exist- 
 ing circumstances. 
 
 Across the picturesque and peaceful ravine to 
 agricultural hall and back to the art gallery the 
 procession traveled, where it remained for half an 
 hour or so looking over the beautiful scenes that 
 presented themselves from that elevated position. 
 
 "Providence has certainly provided an ideal day 
 for tliis grand inaugural commemorative of free- 
 dom's birth, has He not, Mr. President?" said Gen. 
 Hawle}'. 
 
 "General,'- replied the President, "God has al- 
 ways been good to the Americans, and let us hope 
 that at the close of the next century he will still be 
 on our side." 
 
 After some fifteen minutes of infornuil conversa- 
 tion, the carriages came, and I Avalked outside the 
 gates to see the Old Commander and the nation's 
 guests pass off down the road across the common 
 upon which flitting clouds cast shadows like blots 
 on the sunlit green. 
 
 I did no!" return within the grounds. So the 
 charm of the opening day of the great Centennial 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 11' 
 
 for me passed awav when the Old rommander's 
 carriage vanished far doA\ii (Jirard avenue. 
 THE SECOND ELECTION OF GEN. GRANT. 
 
 Having been permitted to cast my first vote for a 
 President of the United States at the second elec 
 tion of General Grant in 1872, I was eager to see 
 that it went regularly into the ballot box, and I 
 did. There were numerous warnings sent out ad- 
 monishing all voters to be vigilant and insist upon 
 seeing their votes placed in the box by the clerks 
 of election. One of the warnings to voters was 
 headed in this style: 
 
 ''LET US HAVE PEACE, 
 but see that our ballots are squarely boxed, even if 
 we have to fight.'' 
 
 I went early, but not often to the polling place, 
 at Seventh avenue and Seventeenth street, in New 
 York City, and qualified as a voter. The clerk who 
 received my ballot, was a big, burly fellow and 
 seemed in no hurry to put it in the box. I asked 
 him to do so, and he growled back at me : 
 
 "Dat'll be attended to all right, see?'' 
 
 "No, I don't see, but I'm bound to see," was 
 my reply, and I did see the ballot containing the 
 Grant electors dropped into that sacred box. 
 
 ''Hope yer satisfied now," snarled a judge. 
 
 I was and took my departure to follow the events 
 of the day throughout the city. There were many 
 stirring scenes but the Old Commander was run- 
 ning strong. 
 
 The only big newspaper in New York City that 
 
118 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 was giving its liearty support to the President was 
 The Times. 
 
 At the head of its editorial columns it flaunted 
 in bold, black type, quotations from Horace 
 Greely's utterances against the Democratic pai-ty, 
 and fought valiantly for the re-election of the Presi- 
 dent. 
 
 About 10 o'clock that night the Times ran out 
 a transparency announcing that Philadelphia had 
 given 50,000 majority for Grant amidst the wildest 
 enthusiasm. 
 
 A few moments later the Tribune launched a big, 
 bright bulletin announcing to the throng gathered 
 in front of the offices : 
 
 "Philadelphia gives Grant a majority of 50,000, 
 but the State will overcome this handsomely and 
 give her electoral vote to Greely and Braun." 
 
 Another flash from the Times office and the mul- 
 titude read these words and shouted itself hoarse : 
 
 "City of Philadelphia and the State of Pennsyl- 
 vania rolls up the astounding majority of 100,000 
 for the Old Commander." 
 
 The transparency on the Tribune building flick- 
 ered for a moment and then darkness cast a mantle 
 of gloom over the scene, while the crowds went wild 
 over the Pennsylvania landslide to Grant and Wil- 
 son. 
 
OF GEN. U. S. .GRANT. 
 
 119 
 
 Before dawn the next morning the world knew 
 there was no doubt that for the second time General 
 Grant had swept the country. For the second time 
 he learned that Republics are not always ungrate- 
 ful. 
 
I 
 
120 
 
 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 CAPTAIN S. O. HEMEN- 
 WAY. Born in Geneva, N. 
 Y., in 1833, his parents short- 
 ly afterwards removing to 
 Buffalo. In 1841 he was a 
 messenger boy in a general 
 store, and m 1850 to 1852 he 
 was station agent at State 
 Line between Pennsylvania 
 and New York. In 1854 he 
 became purser on the 
 steamer Oriental, running be- 
 tween Buffalo and Chicago, 
 and learned navigation from 
 Captain Heber Squares. 
 
 In 1857 Captain Hemenway went to Kansas, going by steam- 
 boat from St. Louis to Westport Landing, now Kansas City, 
 and from there by stage to Lecompton, then capital of Kan- 
 sas, where he kept a hotel for one year. At this time gold 
 was discovered in the mountains and the city of Denver wa."^ 
 laid out. The following year he removed to Denver and 
 opened a hotel in a log cabin of one room, without door, 
 window or a floor. One of his guests took Hemenway's pony 
 and traded it for a claim, out of which he took $7,000 in one 
 day, giving Hemenway half. After a time Captain Hemenway 
 and his family moved back East. 
 
 He started for St. Paul, but switched to New Orleans, in 
 order to recover a drove of horses that he had left at St. Jo- 
 seph, Mo. This was just prior to the opening of the civil 
 war, and there was some trouble in getting North. At St. 
 Paul he accepted the management of the International Hotel. 
 A year later he helped to build the St. Paul & Pacific Rail- 
 way, while the now millionaire James J. Hill was a shipping 
 clerk for a firm in St. Paul. He later took the management 
 of the Nicollet Hotel at Minneapolis, incidentally serving as 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 121 
 
 a captain against the Indians during their uprising. He later 
 contracted with the Union Army to supply General Shelle's 
 army with hay which was cut between the White and Arkan- 
 sas Rivers. 
 
 Toward the close of the war Captain Hemenway went to 
 Cincinnati and bought the steamer Miami, which he ran be- 
 tween Memphis and Little Rock. This proved a successful 
 financial venture until the steamer had the misfortune of a 
 boiler explosition, at which time 187 of her 312 passengers 
 lost their lives. At the time of the explosion Captain Hemen- 
 way's family were at Memphis, and he was on a trip to St. 
 Louis. 
 
 The loss of the Miami bankrupted Hemenway, but in a 
 short while he started with the little steamer Goldfinch, mak- 
 ing trips between St. Louis and Chester. In 1867 he was of- 
 fered and accepted command of a boat in the Memphis & St. 
 Louis Line, and was on the G. W. Graham, Belle of Mem- 
 phis and the Adam Jacobs, finally becoming agent of the com- 
 pany. While master of the G. W. Graham he made a trip up 
 the Missouri to the mouth of the Yellowstone in the employ 
 of the Government. The trip to Fort Buford took 76 days, 
 the return to St. Louis being made in eight days and nine 
 hours. Captain Hemenway left the agency of his line for one 
 year, during which period he ran a little steamer in the lower 
 coast trade from New Orleans to Belize, but at the request 
 of the company, returned to St. Louis and resumed the agency 
 again. 
 
 He has always taken considerable interest in politics, and 
 at the time referred to placed in nomination for Congress 
 Erastus Wells, father of Mayor Rolla Wells. Captain Hemen- 
 way ran for County Auditor, but was not elected. His Re- 
 publican competitor proved a defaulter for $225,000 and went 
 to the penitentiary. Captain Hemenway was at one time As- 
 sistant Doorkeeper to the House of Representatives. Cap- 
 tain Hemenway has bought and sold a number of well-known 
 steamers and has also been identified with the promotion of 
 
 many well-known enterprises. 
 
 He brought from New York and erected at Monterey, Mex- 
 ico, the first electric light plant operated in Mexico. General 
 Diaz was so pleased with the result that he invited Captain 
 Hemenway and his family to spend several months with him 
 
122 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 at the City of Mexico as liis guests. 
 
 At the solicitation of Senators Brice, English and Barnum, 
 Captain Hemenway became an advisory member of the Na- 
 tional Democratic Committee and served in that capacity in 
 the city of New York during the campaign of 1888. 
 
 He is at the present time identified with one of the most 
 successful enterprises in the World's Fair City, acting in the 
 capacity of President of the American Hotel, which is situated 
 at the terminus of the Transit and Suburban lines. 
 
 During: the Avinter of '79 and '80 I owned and 
 commanded the "Steamer Arrow/' running on the 
 St. John river, Fla. Coming down the river with 
 a fair load of passengers destined for the North to 
 attend wedding, burials, and places of amusement, 
 I found the steamer Pastime hard aground on Volu- 
 sia dam. She was making a special trip with Gen- 
 eral U. S. Grant and wife, General Fred Grant and 
 wife, General Phil. Sheridan, Mr. Seligman, wife, 
 SOD, and daughter. As her stay was problematic, 
 and the distinguished parties time was so allotted, 
 as to require their arrival at Enterprise, where a 
 mass of people of that locality had congregated, to 
 entertain the distinguished part^', I therefore 
 rounde<l the "Arrow," and getting alongside of the 
 disabled boat, and taking the party of twenty-two 
 on board the "Arrow," and proceeded up that 
 crooked, intrepid stream. The night was awfullj'' 
 dark, made more so by the interlocking branches 
 on either side. 
 
 General Grant, Sheridan and General Fred 
 Grant viewed the grandeur of that stream A\ith me 
 from the pilot house. Their social qualities were 
 demonstrated by wagering Avith each other, on the 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 123 
 
 next turn or s^^'iug■ of the boat, as the river was so 
 narrow it required "hard a star board and hard a 
 port," keeping her continually on the swing. That 
 General Grant should not lose any of these petty 
 wagers, I tipped his foot one to the right, and two 
 to the left ; he soon was in possession of all the small 
 change Sheridan and Fred had. 
 
 AA'e arrived at Lake Monroe, which, by the way, 
 is one of the most beautiful iulaud lakes in Florida. 
 The thousands of Floridans, who had congregated 
 to pay their respects to General Grant and party, 
 surrounded this lake. Their tires had about gone 
 out when the "Arrow" entered the lake, but upon 
 the blast of her Avhistle they recognized the return 
 of the "Arrow" with the distinguished party on 
 board. The fires were immediately rekindled, giv- 
 ing a glorious picture to the entire surroundings. 
 The boat landed at Enterprise at midnight, the 
 party was received by a committee and banqueted 
 at the hotel, where a grand reception took place. 
 
 At 9 a. m. General Grant and his part}^ re-em- 
 barked. We crossed the lake to Sandford, where 
 he was greeted by thousands of his admirers, who 
 took him in hand and with a iirocession of all 
 clases of vehicles, visited the orange groves. Our 
 return trip down the river was without incident, 
 arriving at the mouth of the Oclawahau river, 
 where a small steamer was waiting to take the dis- 
 tinguished party up that historical stream. We 
 arrived at 7 o'clock p. m., where the part}' disem- 
 barked. 
 
 On leaving the "Arrow" the ladies of the party 
 
124 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 were profuse with their thanks for the hospitality 
 shown them by the passengers and crew. General 
 Grant was the last to leave. While passing over 
 the gang plank he placed both hands upon my 
 shoulder and said : ''Captain, you have the honor 
 of being the only man who ever captured General 
 Grant; I'll get even with you, old boy." 
 
 A little incident occurred showing the social 
 quality of this distinguished gentleman. A gentle- 
 man and passenger on the boat "butted in" while 
 the General Avas renewing his cigar, his Jap servant 
 came with a box of cigars which he tendered to 
 me and then passed it to the stranger. The stranger 
 accepted the cigar and taking out his knife punc- 
 tured the end of the cigar, while Grant cut off the 
 end of his. The gentleman asked General Grant 
 if he had ever punctured his cigars, by doing so all 
 of the nicotine was concentrated in the end. Gen- 
 eral Grant said : "Yes ; I punctured my cigars for 
 years, but as I visited the cigar manufacturers in 
 Jacksonville, I noticed that the Cubans and negroes 
 rolled them up and placing their fingers in their 
 mouths twisted the small end to a point. Noticing 
 this peculiarity in cigar makers, I concluded that 
 I had chewed that kind of paste long enough. Since 
 then I have been cutting them off," suiting the ac- 
 tion to the word. 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 
 
 125 
 
 You ask for my antecedents ; here they are : 
 I am born of pure Saxon blood, college bred. In 
 order to support my mother, I learned the trade 
 of a machinist and in that capacity, helped to build 
 the first locomotive west of the Mississippi river, 
 at Palm & Robertson's shop on Third and Mul- 
 bery streets, in this city. I hit my fin-^ers, instead 
 of my chisel and Avas laid up for repairs and had to 
 abandon m,y vocation. I became an electroplater. 
 My shop was where the Granite building is now, on 
 Fourth street, south of Market. I made my own 
 batteries and my tools before the anvil. Drifted 
 to Jefferson City, where I was employed with 
 Clooney, Crawford &; Co., corner High and Madi- 
 son. I could not stand the beautiful climate and 
 came back to St. Louis when T organized in 1860 the 
 
126 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 Tenth AVaid Saviiit; Association, of which I was one 
 of its officers. Kesijined niv x^ositiou to enter the U. 
 S. Volunteers in 1861, under first call of Abraham 
 Lincoln. At expiration of my term of enlistmenl 
 wanted to join aj^ain, but Frank Blair, whom I 
 adore as a political saint, said, "No, you take 
 charge of the internal revenue business," which I 
 subsequently oroanized and during eight years, col- 
 lected and accounted to the National Government 
 the sum of forty million dollars, every cent of 
 which passed through my hands. 
 
 When the whiskey ring was formed in 1869, I re- 
 signed and in the next year was elected treasurer 
 of the then County of St. Louis. The Republicans 
 would not let me in, as on a previous occasion. T 
 was elected again treasurer by the largest majority 
 any one ever received up to that time, from which 
 election I am still suffering in this: that in the 
 financial storm of 1873, a banking house failed, 
 Avhich had |80,000 of my money which it honestly 
 kept and I had to settle the amount, which settled 
 me too. Since then I have been a "penny a liner" for 
 newspapers and wrote otherwise to catch a penny 
 and am still so engaged, 
 
 RE.AIINISOENOES. 
 
 You want to know something about Gen. Grant. 
 Well, I knew him, but not intimately. Part of what 
 I knew of him is as follows : 
 
 ^'Nlien he came from California, where he was sta- 
 tioned, resigning his commission as captain in the 
 army and, I think in the year 1848, he married here, 
 and settled at White Haven, across River Des 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 127 
 
 Peres, on a lot of 150 acres, given him by his father- 
 in-law. Col. Dent. He built the cabin with the as- 
 sistance of his neighbors, now located on the 
 World's Fair grounds, and employed himself indus- 
 triously in preparing the ground, by cutting the 
 trees on the premises and hauling the wood to town 
 by way of Gravois road. Everybody knows of this. 
 
 On his way to town, and coming back to his place 
 he frequently stopped at grocery stores and con- 
 tracted small debts. When he was appointed Brig- 
 adier-General he came home on a furlough and 
 stopped at each grocery store on the Gravois road 
 and paid his little debts, years ago contracted, and 
 the strangest part was he knew exactly the amount 
 he owed to each. This is simply recorded to show 
 his honesty and a remarkable memory, of what hap- 
 pened years ago. 
 
 You want to know why he left St. Louis, well, 
 I'll tell you. In 1855 or there abouts he had form- 
 ed a co-partnership with one of his relatives, I have 
 forgotten the name, in the real estate business. 
 Business did not flourish and having a knowledge 
 of engineering, acquired at West Point, made an ap- 
 plication to the county cmmissioners or County 
 Court for the position of County Surveyor, the ap- 
 pointment of which was with this Court. 
 
 A Mr. Solomon Avas his opponent and by a vote 
 of the County Court Mr. Solomon was appointed 
 the Surveyor of the county of St. Louis. Capt. 
 Grant was very much disappointed, as the presi- 
 dent of the County Court, Dr. Wm. Taussig, had 
 been his family physician and knew him well. Af- 
 
128 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 ter the proceedings of the Court and Capt. Grant 
 knew the result he felt disheartened and sat on the 
 east front steps of the Court House and keenly felt 
 his failure to obtain this position very much. 
 
 A friend passed by and saw Grant and said: 
 '^Capt., you look drowsy, what is the matter?" 
 Well, the Captain replied : ^'No American can get 
 anything in this town." Solomon, the appointee 
 was of foreign birth. ''I am going to leave this 
 town at once," and this is the cause the Captain left 
 for Galena, Illinois. Why he engaged himself in 
 the tanning business, this is not quite clear. Any- 
 way, when the war broke out, he went to Spring- 
 field, Illinois, and obtained a position in the en- 
 rolling office as a clerk. The 21st Ills. Regiment ar- 
 I'ived at Springfield and an unruly crowd it was 
 which were gathered in the northern part of Illi- 
 nois, and the Colonel reported at headquarters that 
 he could not control the boys. This was reported 
 to the War Governor Yates, the father of the pres- 
 ent Governor of Illinois, who saw Grant, was im- 
 pressed with his manners and appointed him to the 
 Colonelcy of this regiment. Under ordinary circum- 
 stances the railroad would have been used to trans- 
 port the regiment to its destination in the South; 
 not so with Colonel Grant. 
 
 He marched to the place ordered and on the 
 way trained the boys to such an extent that his 
 regiment became known as one of the most efficient 
 in the service. This is the way the career of our 
 beloved Commander commenced. History tells the 
 balance of his achievements. 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 129 
 
 While he was here he sometimes left his team on 
 the road, sitting down on the roadside letting his 
 team pass along on a snltry day. He fell asleep. 
 Sappington's negro, passing by seeing his master's 
 neighbor, asked him to get into his little market 
 wagon. Being drowsy and the roads being bad and 
 full of holes and through the jolting of the wagon, 
 Grant fell into the bed of the wagon, in which some 
 of the garden truck was, not sold in the market, and 
 when Grant's place was nearly reached the Captain 
 got off. 
 
 In the morning Sappington looked about and 
 found the balance of the garden products in a de- 
 lapidated condition, and calling Sam, the negro, 
 said, "What in the h — 1 did you do with the water 
 melons, they are mashed up?" "Well, sah," the old 
 honest negro stated the incident of what happened 
 with Capt. Grant, and said to his master, "Dem 
 crushed watah mellon is the imprint of Captain 
 Grant, sah." 
 
 Several of such incidents happened. When 
 Grant was elected President for the first time he 
 visited St. Louis. Among the committee receiving 
 him was Dr. Taussig, well and favorably known to 
 most St. Louisans. 
 
 Gen. Grant recognized his old friend at once 
 and addressed him as "Judge." This nettled Dr. 
 Taussig somewhat as it flashed into his mind about 
 the little incident happening some years ago, when 
 he had given his preference to Mr. Solomon in the 
 appointment of County Surveyor of St. Louis 
 county. As Mr. Taussig was known to Gen. Grant 
 
130 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 as Dr. Taussig, so Mr. Taussig said, "General, I 
 hope the little incident happening years ago when 
 (Solomon Avas appointed County Surveyor and you 
 were an applicant has nothing to do with you call- 
 ing me eTudge." General Grant smilingly tapped 
 Mr. Taussig on the back and said, "No, my dear 
 sir ; I owe you a debt of gratitude. If you had made 
 me County Surveyor I would not be President of 
 the United States now." 
 
 This shows and confirms Grant's well known do- 
 mestic habits, as he would have stayed right home 
 with his family, whom he loved so much. This in a 
 measure shows the true character of the man 
 Grant. 
 
 I was at the inaugural ball in Washington, 1869, 
 and I never saw a more modest man bear such great 
 honors than he did; there was certainly nothing of 
 haughtiness in the make-up of Gen. Grant. I was 
 there with a friend and a co-officer, Capt. Hy. C. 
 Wright, an intimate friend and neighbor of the 
 President, when he- dwelt at White Haven across 
 River Des Peres. Capt. Wright had the finest 
 house in the neighborhood and Capt. Grant was 
 a gladly seen guest at Wright's home. So when 
 Grant was inaugurated my friend, Capt W^right, 
 went to the White House, where he had a 
 pleasant chat with ]Mrs. Grant and then went to 
 Gen. Grant's office, who was much pleased to see 
 him. "Well, Captain," the General said, after a 
 while, "what can I do for you?" Capt. Wright ex- 
 pained that he was here Avith a friend and that he 
 had just helped me to make a satisfactory settle- 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 131 
 
 meiit of five million dollars which we had collected 
 in the revenue service and that now we were about 
 going home. 
 
 He further stated that I was a Democrat and he 
 was a Ilepublican, that he thought that after the 
 administration had changed he would take care 
 of me. Well Grant said, "You go home and think 
 what you want an make your application and hand 
 it to me." Captain Wright went home and pon- 
 dered all by himself and in due time went to Presi- 
 dent Grant and handed him his application as 
 agent of the Kiowas, who were then in the Pan 
 Handle of Texas. 
 
 Grant looked at it and said, "What do you want 
 that for?" Capt. Wright replied, "I thought it 
 would suit me." Well," Grant said, "you will be 
 appointed," and made some memoranda on the back 
 of the application and said, "I will send your com- 
 mission to St. Louis." 
 
 I had gone to the Capitol, and walking down 
 Pennsylvania avenue about midway, I met the 
 Captain, who I saw was all aglow with pleasure. 
 I said in meeting him, knowing where he had been, 
 "Well, how is it?" He related the story just told 
 when I said, "I am pleased to know this. I am going 
 to NeAv York now and would like you to go with me, 
 but if I were you, I would stay here until you get 
 your appointment, or place your affairs in the 
 hands of a friend." He said, "You're a fool ; it's all 
 right." "All right," I said, "let's go." We went to 
 New York, stayed there a few days and then went 
 to St. Louis. When we arrived at St. Louis I 
 
132 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 picked up a paper and the first thing I saw was 
 that someone else had been appointed to the place 
 my friend had sought. 
 
 Capt. Wright was afterwards appointed as Ap- 
 praiser of Merchandise in St. Louis and when his 
 term expired was appointed again. I simply men- 
 tion this incident to show that Grant never forgot 
 his friends, and a failure to appoint Wright as In- 
 dian Agent Avas caused by the fact that Grant was 
 so beset by the Indian ring that he could not ap- 
 point Wright to that position, but he never forgot 
 him. One of my sons was in 1876 appointed by 
 President Grant to Annapolis as naval cadet. 
 
 I resigned my position as revenue ofl6.cer in June, 
 1869, when the whiskey ring was formed. This 
 steal went on for some time. Chas. W. Ford was 
 appointed as collector and parties in charge of the 
 manipulation of the whiskey ring made Mr. Ford 
 believe that this was all done in favor of the "Old 
 Man," as they called Gen. Grant, for another term. 
 Time passed on and Mr. Ford, who was an honest 
 man, but things got so hot for him that he resolved 
 to see Grant himself about this matter. Grant was 
 at the coast in some watering place. Ford had 
 been a schoolmate of Grant's and they were on very 
 intimate terms with each other, so without ado 
 Ford said, "General, I suppose you know what we 
 are doing in St. Louis and that it's all right?" 
 Grant said, "Charlie, you ought to know me bet- 
 ter," and turned his back on him. 
 
 Ford went to Chicago crestfallen and there died. 
 The supposition was that he had poisoned himself. 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 
 
 133 
 
 I simply mention this to show that Grant was thor- 
 oughly honest and had no conception of the steal 
 which was going on in St. Louis ostensibly in his 
 behalf. The fact was that he was surrounded by 
 men on the make, Avho kept everything of knowl- 
 edge in these matters from him. It may be said in 
 parenthesis that the then Secretary of the Treas- 
 ury, a Mr. Bristow, was himself a candidate for 
 the Presidency and the more Grant would be impli- 
 cated, the better it would be for him. 
 
 Subsequent affairs in New York with the money 
 broker, Ives, who stole Grant's fortune, showed con- 
 clusively that Grant was devoid of any business ca- 
 pacity. A great soldier, but a very poor business 
 man. 
 
134 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 The following is a speech delivered by the Hon. Jno. S. 
 Wise before the Union League of Philadelphia: 
 
 "THE HEROES OF THE SOUTH." 
 
 The Chairinan : — I am now about to offer the last 
 sentiment of the evenino-, and in doing so I must ex- 
 press my thanks to the gentleman who will re- 
 spond for the cheerful patience with which he has, 
 even to this late hour, kept his promise that he 
 would relieve me of the embarrassment occasioned 
 by the departure of Mr. Watterson, and make the 
 concluding speech. Gentlemen, John S. Wise is 
 no stranger to the Union Leagiie. (Cheers) We 
 honor his character and achievements ; we rejoice 
 in his sunin^, sparkling ways, Avhich give his com- 
 panionship so rare a charm, and we are never 
 weary of his splendid eloquence. (Applause.) He 
 is with us in special trust. We have on the walls 
 of the League the features of his illustrious name- 
 sake; of one whose name will be A^enerated while 
 Philadelphia cherishes the patriotism of the early 
 days — John Sergeant. (Cheers.) We might see on 
 the walls of Virginia's capitol the features of an- 
 other ancestor — the stern, intrepid Governor of 
 Mrginia — whose hand stayed the mad sway of re- 
 ligious fanaticism. The North claims Sergeant; 
 A^irginia has no greater name than of Henry A. 
 Wise. North and South are, therefore, to-night 
 United in the person of our guest, recalling the leg- 
 end of Prescott, the historian, over whose library 
 door were crossed two muskets — (me borne l)y a 
 Tory ancestor, and the other by an ancestor, under 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 135 
 
 Washington as they fought at Bunker Hill. Mr. 
 Wise gave the fervor of his youth to the Confeder- 
 acy; he gives the wisdom of his manhood to the 
 Union. As representing what was best, alike in 
 Pennsylvania and Virginia, he will respond to a 
 toast, which will ever be drank in the League with 
 the respect due to self-denial and valor. I give you 
 "The Heroes of the South," (Loud aplause) a hero- 
 ism that belongs to American history, and which 
 can never be forgotten while we honor and value 
 American manhood. 
 
 SPEECH OF HON. JOHN. S. WISE, OF 
 AaRGINIA. 
 
 Mr. Wise was received with loud and long-con- 
 tinued cheers as he arose. He said : 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : — I came here ^o 
 celebrate tlie 70th anniversary of the birth of Gen- 
 eral (jrrant, but I fear we are getting along very 
 rapidly towards the 71st (laughter). (It was after 
 midnight.) 
 
 This demand that I respond for *'the South" 
 reminds me of the college debate where we dis- 
 cussed "AA'hich was most responsible for killing the 
 pig? The knife that slew him, or the grindstone 
 that sharpened it?" I think I am here somewhat 
 in the character of the grindstone for unless Grant 
 had had us to sharpen up on there would have 
 been no Grant (laughter). 
 
 Sureh' no Southerner would take more pleasure 
 than I do in honoring the memory of General 
 Grant, and no place could be more congenial than 
 the city of Phila<leli)hia. (Applause.) 
 
136 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 About your good city cluster many of the tender- 
 est feelings of my heart. 
 
 I have, at home, a letter dated Philadelphia, 
 January 10, 1777, written by my great-grandfather 
 to his wife. He was then a Captain in the Virginia 
 line on Continental establishment, marching to 
 join the army of A\'aKliington and afterwards took 
 part in the battles of BrandyAvine and Germantown. 
 Another letter bearing date Philadelphia, Decem- 
 ber 4, 1708, from his daughter, my grandmother, 
 then a school girl, was written within a stone's 
 tliroAv of this spot. It tells of Philadelphia hos- 
 pitality and social life, in a way that would surely 
 int(^rest you. There were my Virginia kinsfolk of 
 a hundred years ago identified with the City of 
 Brotherly Love, and my father was named after 
 Alexander Fuilerton of Philadelphia. My mother, 
 too. was a Philadeli)hian, daughter of the John Ser- 
 geant, whose portrait adorns your walls, and much 
 of my cliildhood was i)assed among this noble peo- 
 ple. (Applause.) 
 
 My experiences here, at the close of the war were 
 rather unique. I escaped the surrender of General 
 Lee by being the bearer of despatches from him to 
 Mr. Davis. Hearing of Lee's surrender T journeyed 
 southward and joined Johnston's army, surrender- 
 ing with it at Jamestown, and being temporarily 
 out of employment, my military ventures having 
 somewhat miscarried, I came at once to Philadel- 
 phia, took up my domicile at the house of General 
 Meade, who married my mother's sister, foraged 
 on the enemy, and reviewed from time to time, the 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 137 
 
 returning armies of the Union. (Laughter and ap- 
 plause. ) 
 
 Thus, in about two months, I had been in two 
 Confederate and one Union army, and you will un- 
 derstand by that circumstance that I am not sec- 
 tional or partisan in the views I entertain as to the 
 events then transpiring. ( Laughter. ) 
 
 You must pardon all this. I have no speech pre- 
 pared. Mr. Young, when he invited me, promised 
 me faithfully he would not call upon me. I am 
 merely a post-prandial bushwhacker. 
 
 Dropping this view of personal reminiscence, and 
 bearing in mind the lateness of the hour, let 
 me say as a very humble representative of the Con- 
 federate soldier, that, in my judgment, the time has 
 come, and a sufficient period has elapsed for the 
 subsidence of passion, for people on both sides to 
 realize much that they could not appreciate when 
 inflamed by the angry passions of war. I think we 
 may now philosopliise somewJiat as to the causes 
 and the results of the great struggle which made 
 Grant famous. (Applause.) 
 
 As nothing came out as I expected it would I 
 sometimes amuse myself by thinking of what might 
 have happened. ( Laughter. ) 
 
 In the first place did it ever occur to you that 
 any man who was on either side in that struggle 
 might easily have been upon the other side? 
 (Laughter and applause.) 
 
 That, sounds absurd but it is not. Think how 
 many Northern men were South and how many 
 Southern men were North, merely through force 
 
138 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 of the accidental circumstances surrounding them 
 at the outbreak of hostilities. (Laughter.) Robert 
 E. Lee and George H. Thomas, were Lieutenant- 
 Colonel and INfajor respectively, of the same regi- 
 ment. Both considered long and patiently which 
 side they would take, and where their duty lay. 
 On eyery theory of probabilities Lee was the man 
 who would remain with the LTnited States Army, 
 and Thomas would go South. By eyery tradition 
 Lee was a Federalist. The fame of his family had 
 been earned in building up and sustaining the 
 glory of the Union, for which his own blood had 
 been shed in Mexico. He was the pet of General 
 Scott, Commander-in-Chief of the Union Armies, 
 and no favorite of Davis, or Bragg or Hardee, the 
 leaders of the Confederacy. Above all, he was 
 identified in every way with the feelings of that 
 closest of all corporations in America, West Point, 
 and had been taught to yield first allegiance to the 
 Union. Thomas remained in the North. Lee went 
 South. There Avas no telling, at that time, on 
 which side men would fetch up. Pemberton and 
 Lovell, both Northern men, cast their fortunes with 
 the South. 
 
 AVithin three weeks of the actual outbreak of 
 hostilities one of those who afterwards became fam- 
 ous as a Federal commander, Avas so earnest in his 
 advocacy of the Southern view, that Southerners 
 expected him to join them. I refer to that great, 
 true, staunch Union soldier, John A, Logan. (Ap- 
 plause. ) 
 
 Did it ever occur to you that if Lee had decided 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 139 
 
 differently, if he had remained in the North, if Gen- 
 eral Scott had o'iven him command of the Union 
 Army as he probably Avould have done, the war 
 Avould have been ended so quickly that General 
 Grant would never have had the opportunity to dis- 
 play his greatness? 
 
 I honestly believe such would have been the case 
 if Lee had not gone South. I believe, that backed 
 by the power and complete equipment the Union 
 would have given him, General Lee would have 
 wiped the Armies of the Confederacy off the face 
 of the earth before the date of Vicksburg and Chat- 
 tanooga. It is no disparagement of Grant to sug- 
 gest these possibilities. They never occurred. His 
 opportunity did come, and everybody, friend and 
 foe alike, knows how he availed himself of them 
 and proved his greatness. ( (Applause.) 
 
 But we are merely talking about what might 
 have been. It does no harm, and costs nothing. 
 ( Laughter. ) 
 
 It was not so. Poor old Virginia! Virginia who 
 had done so much to create, to establish, to perpet- 
 uate, the ITnion. Virginia who had produced 
 George Washington, the father of the LTnion, and 
 John Marshall, the great expounder of the Consti- 
 tution. Virginia, whose illustrious Scott was at 
 that moment Commander-in-Chief of the Federal 
 Armies. Virginia, linked not only by history and 
 every tradition, but by ties of blood and intermar- 
 riage, by daily social and business intercourse, with 
 States like Pennsylvania. Virginia, who had earn- 
 ed the title of Mother of States and Statesmen bv 
 
140 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 the territory she liad given, and the sons she had 
 produced and whose lives had been dedicated to 
 the cause of the Union. She, too, was called upon 
 to decide, and cast her lot with the South. Men 
 like Lee, followed her, just as the child who ques- 
 tions not the wisdom of a mother, obeys her com- 
 mands though they be against judgment or inclina- 
 tion. 
 
 There is doubtless still something irritating to 
 the northern mind, in the clamor of States like 
 Louisiana and Florida at that time. States that 
 had been redeemed from vassalage to foreign des- 
 potism, and bought by the money of the Federal 
 Union, clamoring for their ''reserved rights;" but 
 Virginia occupied no such position. She was placed 
 in a trying and difficult situation, with many con- 
 siderations swaying her to and fro. She was slow 
 to act, and fully conscious of how much the step in- 
 volved to herself and to others. In time to come 
 men way wonder why she did at last resolve upon 
 the effort to secede, but the deliberation and reluct- 
 ance of her steps, the great sacrifices she made, the 
 glorious part she bore, the sad fate which awaited 
 her, will through all time curb and repress the feel- 
 ing of bitterness or resentment towards Virginia. 
 The wisdom of her decision may be questioned, her 
 honesty, and the honesty of her sons who followed 
 her, are, I hope and believe, above all question. 
 
 One thing is certain. If she had not decided to 
 secede, there would not have been any war of seces- 
 sion worth talking about. (Applause.) 
 
 Now let us do a little more supposing. Suppose 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 141 
 
 the Southern Confederacy had succeeded, what 
 would have been the result? 
 
 Well, of course, we Southern people would not 
 have had to explain so carefully and so frequently 
 why it was we did not succeed. (Laughter.) It 
 would have spared us a great deal of wounded 
 pride. Still, I think we have enough left yet for 
 all reasonable purpose. (Laughter.) 
 
 Outside of these what would have happened? 
 Our first duty would have been to endeavor to dis- 
 cover how much paper money we had issued. God 
 alone knows how much that was. I doubt if we 
 would have finished counting it to this day. 
 (Laughter.) Inevitable bankruptcy and repudia- 
 tion awaited Confederate success. ' 
 
 We could hope for no extended system of rail- 
 roads. The institution of slavery, which would of 
 course have been perpetuated, was opposed to any 
 such freedom of intercourse. Except at two or 
 three seaports there would have been no chance of 
 large cities. Slavery does not encourage large 
 cities. Manufacturers, bringing great bodies of 
 free laborers would have been equally out of the 
 question, and the Southern free trade doctrines 
 would have prevented their introduction. England 
 would have supplied all our manufactured arti- 
 cles and foreign ships would have transported all 
 our agricultural products. Agriculture would 
 have been the chief employemnt. The Southern 
 planters would have confined themselves to sugar 
 and cotton. The factories of the cities, would, as 
 of old, have advanced even the bacon to feed the 
 
142 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 slaves, and owned the crops before they were gath- 
 ered. One-half the young men would have been in 
 the standing armies necessary to protect our long 
 line of frontier and prevent the escape of the sla,ves, 
 the other half would have been engaged in agricul- 
 ture pure and simple, or in the professions. Taxa- 
 tion, continuous, heavy, grinding and insupport- 
 able would have dispelled the glorious dreams of 
 Southern independence, and long before now the 
 Confederacy would have come to an end. 
 
 Under pressure of these conditions the extreme 
 Southern States would have made the effort to re- 
 open the slave trade as a means of relief. To this 
 Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri would never have 
 consented. If the movement had been pressed to 
 success they w«mld have seceded. If it failed the 
 far South States would have seceded. Anybody 
 could secede under the Confederate theory. And 
 one by one, before now, all the old so-called border 
 States would have patched up terms with their 
 Northern brethren and have been back in the Union 
 playing Yankee Doodle with all their might and 
 feeling very comfortable at getting back by the fire- 
 side in the old homestead of our fathers; and as 
 they came, the same bright eyes and generous 
 hearts that greet me here to-night, would have re- 
 joiced and wept tears of joy that the Union of our 
 fathers was preserved and that one flag floated over 
 all the people of our land. (Applause.) 
 
 Such, fellow citizens, is the way it might have 
 happened, and, in my judgment, would have hap- 
 pened, if it had not happened as it did. Some- 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 143 
 
 thing greater and more powerful than the will of 
 man presided over the destiny of this nation and 
 preserved its unity. In the mysterious Providence 
 of God that unity has been preserved and estab- 
 lished in a different and more direct way than that 
 way which I have suggested as a possibility. 
 
 To the supreme result we have marched by a 
 route infinitely more radical, filled with a million 
 corpses, and strewn with wasted treasure. Along 
 the way are seen the wrecks of many hopes, the 
 destruction of many old things, the ruins of many 
 ambitions, the abandoned skeletons of dead faiths 
 and superstitions ; but at the end is seen a happier, 
 freer and more united nation than could have been 
 hoped for had tlie struggle been less fierce, or the 
 sacrifices less complete. 
 
 I cannot speak for any other human being but 
 myself Avhen I say, that, although on the losing side 
 in the great fratricidal strife, when I behold how 
 thoroughly it settled all vexed questions, when I 
 realize how fresh and fair and pure the future 
 opens up to every portion of the land, I accept the 
 results without one single regret. I believe the 
 reward is worth every sacrifice of blood and treas- 
 ure and that all has happened for the best. (Ap- 
 plause. ) 
 
 I say this without for one instant forgetting the 
 valor and constancy of my Confederate comrades 
 pursuing the right as they saw it. They were 
 no seers. God forgive me if in aught I say, I seem to 
 question the sincerity of their lives and deaths. 
 How could they have lived and died so gloriously 
 
144 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 unless under the deep conviction that they were 
 right. 
 
 Grant appreciated this as few others did, and tes- 
 tified to it in every manly way. 
 
 It is that Avhich makes every true Confederate 
 soldier venerate Grant's memory and hold his fame 
 next to that of his own Commander. The Confeder- 
 ate soldier has come to know Grant as the conscien- 
 tious, brave, pertinacious upholder of the Union 
 cause, who, fighting to the death for his convictions, 
 was free from all bitterness, and who, whim his 
 point had been fully carried, was anxious to for- 
 give and to forget, and to build anew the fabric of 
 fraternal love, without one reminiscent taunt or 
 reproach. (Applause.) 
 
 I heard the distinguished Secretary of the In- 
 terior speak of Grant as he knew him in his youth. 
 Like him, when I was a boy I knew Grant. But 
 we made his acquaintance in different ways. I 
 first heard his drums beat in the early morning as 
 his interesting army lay in the mists that hung 
 about the beleaguered lines of Petersburg. We be- 
 lieved him to be a mere military butcher, so reck- 
 lessly bent on carnage that we even hoped his own 
 troops would turn against him for their remorse- 
 less slaughter. 
 
 I have seen his legions move forward to our as- 
 sault. I have seen them repulsed, and again have 
 fled before them. He is my old and honored friend, 
 our dearest foe. While war was flagrant Ave did not 
 fully understand him. It was not until we sur- 
 rendered to him chat we realized how much of 
 
OF GEN. U. S. GRANT. 145 
 
 noble magnanimity and generosity was mingled 
 with the stern, bloody pluck which crowned him 
 victor. 
 
 It was a genuine surprise to see his old foemen, 
 when, almost before they had completed their sur- 
 render to him, he seemed more anxious to feed his 
 prisoners from the rations of his own men than he 
 was to secure his captives. 
 
 When we expected harsh orders we heard the 
 command that we retain our horses and our side- 
 arms. 
 
 When civil prosecutions of our officers were at- 
 tempted it was our old foe Grant who stood in the 
 breach and demanded that his parole be respected. 
 
 When the triumphal armies of the Union entered 
 our deserted capital he refused to taunt his old 
 and honored foemen with a Roman triumph. 
 
 And so as the years rolled by the Confederate sol- 
 dier in his poverty learned to draw near to Grant 
 as his friend, in full assurance that whoever else 
 should chide him for his past there was one great 
 generous heart who held the grimy Johnny Red 
 as second only to his own brave boys in blue, in 
 right to claim his loving care and tenderness. 
 
 Thus it is, Mr. Chairman, that I, not as a citizen 
 of the dead Confederacy, or with any lurking regret 
 as to its fate, but as a true and loyal and loving 
 citizen of the United States of America claim share 
 in this demonstration with privilege of doing honor 
 to myself and to my people, in honoring the mem- 
 ory of Grant. (Applause.) 
 
 We have the happiest, the freest, the best nation, 
 
146 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 that the sun shines upon in his course. 
 
 None love it more. None are truer in their alle- 
 giance. None more honestly earnest in the hope 
 that it shall be united for all time to come — than 
 the men from whose opposed ranks Grant carved 
 his noble fame, the soldiers of the dead Confeder- 
 acy, ( Loud and long continued applause. ) 
 
 JNO S. WISE. 
 
ANCIS K*i»Di-t Wy R THOMPSON. T*t<fv*ti WALTER B STEVEWS. Siciiiof 
 
 WORLDS' FAIR, ST. LOUIS 
 
 iao4 
 
 LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION 
 
 '"^ " CEREMONIES WASKu'i^ln 
 
 tl)W\HDC CULrSf(> 
 
 April 7, 1904. 
 
 Mr. James L. Post, 
 
 Blanke Tea & Coffee Company, 
 St. Louis, Missouri. 
 Bear Slr:- 
 
 1 brought up your letter before the Committee laet night 
 for a "Special Day'for Orant Cabin Day. It Is the opinion of tho 
 Committee that Inasmuch as no day had been asked for for disting- 
 uished Anericens, that It would be Improper to have one for General 
 Grant. I was so requested to notify you. 
 Very' truly yours. 
 
 Secretary, 
 
 Comnlttee on Ceremonies, 
 
WORLDS FAIR, ST. LOUIS 
 
 1804 
 
 LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION 
 
 St Louis. U. S. fl. 
 
 July 23. 1903 
 
 nentlotrcn;-- 
 
 Ir roply toyour ffivor of the 32r.d Iprt., I'eKardlng 
 photoerapha or Grant's Cabin, will sr.y thnt It rs '•orlrary to our 
 policy to circulate copyrlelit'^d photocranha. Consoquently no pho- 
 tccr^Tih cf "-he Grant's Cabin has been sent out bv thl l: ■lopartrcnt. 
 
 Pespeetfiilly, 
 
 Cor. cii Press and Publicity 
 
 /.dvTrtl'jJ ng- Depart'r.ont, 
 
 C, F. Blanke Tea fc Coffee Co., 
 City. 
 
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