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 16 — 47372-2 OPO 
 

 ANT 
 
 
 By General John C. Smith, Commander 
 
 Department of ilKnois 
 
 Grand Army of the Republic 
 
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 ^11, 
 
GRANT 
 
 An address delivered at the 
 23d Annual Reunion of 
 the Old Soldiers' and 
 Sailors' Association of Jo 
 Daviess County, Turner 
 Hall, Galena, August 1 5 
 
 1905 
 
 General John C. Smith, Commander 
 
 Department of Illinois 
 
 Grand Army of the Republic 
 
^'''p 
 
 ROGERS &. SMITH CO. 
 DESIGNERS 
 ENGRAVERS 
 PRINTERS 
 BINDERS 
 
 CHI C AG 
 
J 
 
 1 
 
 ^^ 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 Mr. President. Comrades. Ladies and Friends: 
 
 As an old citizen of Galena I am pleased to meet this 
 splendid audience of comrades and friends and return your 
 hearty greeting. As 1 came upon this platform I was hailed 
 bv Comrade Will Perry, now of Elizabeth, the first l)oy whom 
 I enlisted in my company for the \\'av. and whose father also 
 enrolled with nie for "Three Years." The next to oreet me 
 was my old brigade conmiander, Major-General Smith I). Atkins, 
 of the city of Freeport. AVhile on every hand were comrades 
 of all gratles, non-comnussicnied and commissioned, from Private 
 Perrv to General Atkins, rejoicing that they were gathered 
 together once more before summoned to cross the pontoon 
 for duty on the eternal camping ground upon the other shore. 
 
 I would like to talk to my comrades of the early days, 
 when we went a-soldiering. Of the marches. l)ivouacs and 
 battles in which ^\e were, engaged dining those long four 
 vears of terrible conflict, and the return home. But having 
 taken up some incidents in the life of oiu* illustrious citizen and 
 peerless soldier, Ulysses S. Grant. I leave all those stories to the 
 comrades who are to follow me and will speak to you of our 
 old commander. Every incident in the civil or military life 
 of General Grant can Init be of interest to all Galenians, and 
 should be repeated b}' the old and learned l:)y the young. 
 When General Grant passed to the unseen world. I was in 
 Springfield serving the State as Lieutenant-Governor, and had 
 as private secretary an old soldier, Major Eugene A. Routhe, 
 who wrote the following beautiful triliute to General Grant 
 
 5 
 
upon the fly-leaf of a sera]) l)ook ami liavo it to mc, Xovcinl)('r 
 25, 1885: 
 
 "(iHAXT." 
 "No one knows when a ,<ireat man is l)orn. Few, as a rule, 
 re('o<j;nize his fiTeatness clurin,'^; life — but he dies — a nation 
 mourns, and th(> world goes to his funeral." 
 
 AVli(>n the guns of Fort Sumter awakened a sleeping land, 
 the hero of the succeeding war had no ])lace in its dreams. 
 His name was mduiown. his person was unfamiliar. Avenues 
 where Notoriety dro^•e her gilded cars knew him not. His 
 foot-falls had sta.rted echoes only in the hunil)le by-ways of 
 life. A long line of illustrious ancestry may give title to pre- 
 eminence, but this man rode no steed of pedigree to the fore- 
 front of fortune. He walked solitary and alone and dust 
 covered. Long after t\w drum-beat "to arms" smote upon the 
 drowsy ear of Peace, no hiunan eye saw the glory of his 
 future, (iod had written it in characters wdiich could only 
 be read in the hnid glare of battle flame; l)ut it was His hand- 
 writing. The d(>stiny which shapes the end of Man had found 
 as yet no use for the prodigious possibilities of Grant's nature. 
 Fame was not his ])atrimony — it was the wage he earned. 
 
 General Grant was tudvnown at the outbreak of the Rebellion. 
 except to his neighbors and a small circle of friends, yet in 
 in four brief years his name and fame became known to all the 
 earth and hisdeeds indcdibly impressed uj)on the ])agesof history. 
 A decade following and his practical statesmanship won liiiu a 
 place second onl\- to his pro\-en military abihty. of which the 
 orator can never cease to souml liis i)raise or ihe historian to 
 lell of his wise suggestions. While his services in th<' field 
 and in the |)residential chair will for ages ilbnuine l he pages 
 of history, the American people will nc\-er cease lo love him 
 for the pui'itv of his honu^ life ;md the slei'ling dignity of his 
 (•hara<'ter. 
 
 Were 1 to speak lo you onlv of the military career of 
 L'lysses S. Gi-ant. 1 would tell you that he held no second place 
 among the soldiers of any age. not ex'en to the gi'eat Xapoh'on 
 whose Italian campaign \-ictories stanled the woiiil. While 
 that campaign was the wonder of the militarN' critics ot the 
 
 G 
 
(lay and has l)een the study of soldiers since, Grant's invest- 
 ment of ^^icksburo• after rnnnino- the batteries, crossing the 
 Mississippi below, and marching and fighting for twenty days, 
 is worthy to be ranked with it, and all which Napoleon claimed 
 for his men in that campaign is justly due to General Grant's 
 command. Without quartermaster or commissary su])plies, 
 or base for their storage. (Jrant crossed a mile wide and deep 
 river, niarch(^d two hundred and fifty miles over a rough, 
 hilly and h(>avily timbered country intersected by deep and 
 bridgeless rivers, fought five battles— Port Gibson, Raymond, 
 Jackson, Champion's Hill and Big Black River, capturing 
 eighty pieces of siege and field artillery, the Capital City of 
 Jackson and the batteries at Grand Gulf. Seven thousand 
 prisoners were taken, and as many more of the enemv were 
 killed or woundetl. Two armies of th(> Confederates, com- 
 mantled by their best generals, Josejjh E. Johnston and John 
 C. Pemberton, each ecpial in numljer to the Federal forces, 
 were prevented from uniting and were handsomely ^\hipped 
 in detail. 
 
 All this was accomplished in ticcnij/ dai/s. during which 
 time but fi^'e days' rations were issued, and the troops had to 
 forage for additional food in a sparsely settled country where 
 supplies were already scarce. As this twenty-day campaign 
 ended with the investment of Mcksburg, forty more days' 
 investment and assault brouglit its surrender, with 32,000 
 prisoners, 170 guns and 50,000 stand of small arms together 
 with a large supply of anununition for the same. 
 
 From a l)rief examination of the movements of these 
 commanders, we learn that Napoleon entered upon his cam- 
 paign in Italy with a veteran army and double the number of 
 troo])s opposed to him; while Grant, whose forces were composed 
 of volunteers, many of whom hatl never been under fire, 
 crossed the .Alississippi with one-half the number of the enemy 
 and he was not reinforced until after ^^icksburg was invested. 
 
 Of this splendid campaign, the noble-hearted President 
 Lincoln wrote: 
 "My Dear Gkxkral:" 
 
 "I do not remember that you and I ever met personally. 
 I write this now as a grateful acknowledgment for the almost 
 
inestiniabl(> service you have done the couutrv. When you 
 first I'eached the vicinit}' of Moksburg, I thought you should 
 do what you finally did, march the troops across the neck, 
 run the l)atteries with the transports, and thus go below; and 
 I never had any faith, except a general hope that you knew 
 better than I, that the Yazoo Pass expedition and the like could 
 succeed. When you got below and took Port Gibson, Clrand 
 Gulf and vicinity, I thought you should go down the river and 
 join General Banks, and when you turned northward, east of 
 the Big Black, I feared it was a mistake. I now wish to make 
 a personal acknowledgment that you w(>re right and I was 
 wrong." 
 
 -Much other evidence might l^e presented of the soldierly 
 qualities of our commander were it necessary, ])ut I will 
 content myself with a hr'ioi reference to one or two. 
 
 We are reading daily of the war in the East, and Ix'ing 
 told of the great battles of ten to fifteen days' duration by the 
 largest armies the world ever saw. In fact, everything con- 
 nectcil with this Japanese -Russian war is magnified out of 
 all ])roportion, and more men are reported killed than wounded, 
 thus reversing the record of all previous wars. It is evident 
 that the waiters have never been soldiers, and very doubtful 
 if they have yet heard of our Civil War. What soldier of that 
 wai' or reader of its battles but knows that Cirant commanded 
 more men than are in either army now engaged in Manchuria, 
 and that while in person witli the Army of the Potomac, he 
 was ihrecting the movements of the armies under Shei-man and 
 those west of the Mississippi, more than one thousand niih's 
 away? Where is the soliHei- or student but knows that out- 
 old coiuiuander set the pace I'or coutinuous battle, as in the 
 investnuMit of \'icksburg, and as you. uiy comrades of the 
 armies of the Cumberland. Tennessef^ and ( )hio. Ic^inuvl in the 
 one hiunb'ed and twenty (hiys" lighting of the Athuita cani- 
 paign, from Rocky lace Kidge to .h)nesbori> ;nid l,o\'ejoy 
 Station: oi' the (•ani|)aign of the Army of the I'oloniac for 
 elc\-en nionths, iVoni tlie napiihm thi'ough the w ildci-ness to 
 Spottsyl\-ania and Cold 1 larboi'. in final \ic1ory at .\pponiat to\? 
 
 Hut of General (li-ant's sei-\-ices while President . and the 
 claim of his fi'icnds for high iaid< as a statesman. I need not 
 
 8 
 
<i() into details for the facts, as to nicntioii his l)riii<iin<i' order 
 out of the chaos of the Civil War, his defense of Lee and treat- 
 ment of the Confederate armies, and the amicable adjustment 
 of the claims for damages done our shipping by the rebel 
 privateer Alabama, gave evidence of those ciualitics which 
 make for good in the character of a public man. 
 
 Another piece of wise statesmanship was the President's 
 treaty with Santo Domingo. 
 
 Under date April 5, 1S71, President CIrant submitted the 
 report of a special committee on the Island of Santo Domingo 
 to the Senate in which he says: 
 
 "It will be ol)served that this report more than sustains 
 all that 1 have heretofore said in regard to the productiveness 
 and healthfulness of the Republic of San Domingo, of the 
 unanimity of the people for annexation to the United States 
 and their peaceable character, etc." 
 
 That paper alone, and his desire for annexation of the most 
 fertile island in the Caril)l)ean Sea, indicates the broad scope 
 of the President's mind, and looking far into the future his 
 desire to lienefit our coimtry. Had that treaty been approved 
 l)y the United States Senate, we should not now be in the 
 position we are likely to ho ]:)laced in as a world power of 
 having to become a bad debt collecting agency for adventurers 
 and Eitroj)ean governments. 
 
 As further evidence of the President's good judgment and 
 far-seeing that would he for the best interest of the Nation, 
 we have his firm stand on the currency question, the resumption 
 of specie i^aynunit, the inviolability of the national debt, and 
 his speech on our conmion schools lief ore the Society of the 
 Army of the Tennessee, at Des ^loines, Iowa, in ISTO. 
 
 In that address he said: 
 
 "I do not l)ring into this assemblage politics, certainly 
 not partisan politics, but it is fair subject for soldiers in their 
 deliberations to consider what may be necessary to secure the 
 prize for which they battle. In a republic like ours, in which 
 the citizen is the sovereign and the official the servant, where 
 no power is exercised except l)y the people, it is important 
 that the sovereign — the people — should possess intelligence. 
 The free school is the promoter of that intelligence wliich is 
 
 9 
 
to preserve' us a fro(> nation. If we are to have another contest 
 in the near fut\u'(> of o\n- national existence, I ]n-(MUet that the 
 (hvicUng Hne will not l^e Mason and Dixon's. l)ut between 
 patriotism and intelligence on the one side and superstition, 
 ambition and ignorance on the other. Now. in this centennial 
 year of our existence. I believe it is a good tinu^ to begin the 
 work of strengthening the house commenced l)v our patriotic 
 forefathers one hundred years ago at Concord and Lexington. 
 Let us all labor to add all needful guarantees for the more 
 perfect security of free thought, free speech and press, pure 
 morals, unfettered religious sentiments, and of equal rights 
 and privileges to all men. irrespective of color, nationality or 
 religion. Encourage free schools, and resolve that not one 
 dollar of money appropriated to their support, no matter hoAV 
 raised, shall be appropriated to any sectarian school. Koolve 
 that neither the State nor Nation, nor both combinetl. shall 
 support institutions of learning other tlian those sufficient to 
 afford to every child growing up in the land the opportunity 
 of a good common school education, unmixed with sectarian. 
 pagan or atheistical tenets. Leave the matter of religion to 
 the family altar, the chiurh and the i)rivate school supported 
 entirely by private contribution. Keep tlu^ church and State 
 forever separate. AVith these safeguards. 1 ])eli(>ve tlu^ l)attles 
 which created the Army of the Tennessee will not have b(>en 
 fought in vain." 
 
 /Turning now lo the ])urity of cliaractei' of oui' old connnan- 
 der and his home lii'e. 1 can li-uilifu]l\- say that durinu the 
 residence in (lalena of (ieii(>ral ('.rant and family, their lit'e was 
 that of their neighbors, unostentatious, (juiet and conunend- 
 al)le. As the ( leneral was not a member of any secret society, 
 and theivfore not out late at nights attending lotlge. as many 
 of us were, but. leaving business in the early evening lie re- 
 turned home to enjoy the societv of his wife and children, 
 occasionally visiting with the neighl)ors. lie was a constant 
 attendant at church, occupying a pew in the new Px'uch Street 
 Methodist l<]piscop;il Church, under the pastorate of the liev. 
 .lohn 11.. now iVisho]. N'incent. anil his childivn atlemleil its 
 Sal>l>ath school. 'I"hi> clun-ch liad but ivcentlx" heen eivcteil 
 bv ,\hii'ble iV Smith, of which linn youi' speaker was the jmiior 
 
 II) 
 
member and at that time a constant attendant, hence he speaks 
 of what he knew and not from hearsay. Returning to Galena 
 on the chise of the war and Hving there during the presidential 
 campaign of 1868, the retm-n from his tour aroimd the world 
 and later, General Grant and family renewed their attendance 
 at this same church, then under the pastorate of Rev. J. F. 
 Yates and others, of Avhich I am reminded by Judge William 
 Spensley, then an usher in the church, whose duty it was to 
 seat the General and family in their pew, where they were 
 noted for their marked attention to the exercises of the service. 
 
 Of General Grant's dislike of improper stories in which 
 some people thoughtlessly indulge. I have told in a i)revious 
 address and I now emphasize the fact, that the General dis- 
 liked slang and A'ulgarity and never was known to use profane 
 language. A great respecter of the Sal^bath Day, he would 
 not drive for recreation on that day, and the Hon. Robert R. 
 Hitt, M. C., will tell you that when General Grant was in Paris 
 he declined to witness a review of the French army l)ecause 
 it was being held on Sunday.; 
 
 While the General did not seek society, yet he made many 
 friends in Galena, and among them I may name several who 
 became distinguished in the war so soon to follow. 
 
 John A. Rawlins, a young lawyer of ability, a native of 
 Galena and a Douglas elector in the political campaign of 
 1860, who entered the military service as captain and assistant 
 adjutant-general on General Grant's staff, where he remained 
 until the close of the Avar, rising to the rank of major-general and 
 chief-of-staff, from which he became Secretary of War on the 
 General's election to the Presidency of the United States, and 
 in which office he died. 
 
 John Fj. Smith, a jeweler and republican Treasurer of 
 Jo-Daviess County, entered the military service as Colonel of 
 the 45th Regiment Illinois Infantry ^'olunteers. became a 
 major-general and commander of a splendid division in that 
 grand old Army of the Tennessee, dying in Chicago a few 
 years ago a retired officer of the Ignited States Army. 
 
 Augustus L. Chetlain, a merchant and captain of a political 
 club known as the "Wide Awakes," who recruited the first 
 company of soldiers in Galena, the one Captain Ulysses S. 
 
 11 
 
Grant acconipanied to Springfield, wiicrc it was incorpdratcd 
 into t\»lon('l John McArthur's 12th Regiment IHinoi.s Infantry 
 \'ohniteers, of which Captain Chetlain (the father of .Judge 
 Arthur H. Chetlain of Chicago) became lieutenant-colonel, 
 from which he steadily rose to the rank of major-general in 
 that same Army of the Tennessee. 
 
 Jasi)er A. xMaltby. a gunsmith and a democrat, who entered 
 the military service as lieutenant-colonel of .John E. Smith's 
 regiment, the 45th Illinois, became colonel on Sniith's ])ro- 
 motion, and afterward a brigadier-general, dying at N'icksbiu'g 
 .shortly after th(> war and while nnlitary governor of that 
 city. 
 
 F:iy S. Parker, Superintendent of Construction of the Galena 
 Custom House and Post-Office and Marine Hospital; also 
 T)ubu(iue. Iowa, Custom House and Post-Oihce; a Seneca Indian 
 and Chief of the Six Nations of Northern New ^'ork; grand 
 nephew of the famous Indian warrior and orator of revolution- 
 ary times. Chief Parker entennl the service with rank of captain 
 as an engineer officer on the staff of General .John K. Smith, was 
 transferred to staff of General Grant at the siege of N'icksburg. 
 became liis military secretary and rose to the rank of brigadier- 
 general, was commissioner of Indian affairs during President 
 Grant's first term. Died at Fairfield, Connecticut. August 80, 
 ISO.T, and laid to rest in those happ\- hunting grounds with 
 Indian ceremonies. 
 
 William R. Rowley, ivpul)lican Clerk of the Ciiruit Court 
 of ,h)-l)aviess County, entere(l the servic(> iis a lieutenant in 
 the 4.")tli Keginient Illinois Infantry NOlunteers. was trans- 
 ferred to (lenerid Gi'ant's staff at Fort Donelsoii. Ix'came his 
 pi-o\()st marshal and prix'ate secretai->- and I'osc to tlie I'ank 
 of hrigadier-geiiei'al. (ieneral Howley ditMl in (*liicago a 
 few years ago and his remains, with those of ( icncrals .hilui !•>. 
 Smith and Jasper \. .Maltby, repose in oui' beautiful Greenwood 
 Cemetery, ( ialen:'. 
 
 There were others who bore a soldier's part in that great 
 war with wlioni Captain Grant became ac(ptainte(l in ( laleiia. 
 but I have iiaineil enough to indicate tlie chai-aclei- ol hi.- 
 fi-ieii(l> ami associates in thi> cil)' at the conunencenn'iit ot 
 1 he war for t he I iiion. 
 
 12 
 
•That ho liked others to enjoy themselves and took pleasure 
 in their doinu' so was evidencetl in the interest he took in the 
 debates of the local elul) and the drills of the "Wide Awakes," 
 a republican organization commanded by General Chetlain 
 which he frequently assisted in drilling. While I have noticed 
 the General's interest in other people's children, he loved his 
 own and was pleased to see all enjoy themselves, even assisting 
 them in doing so. I remember the spring of 1S60 was wet. the 
 river overflowing its l)anks and flooding Main Street. When 
 going u}) town I had to pass the Grant store, in front of which 
 several boys were engaged in sailing boats, and with them I saw 
 Captain Grant whittling shingles, putting in a stick or two to 
 make sloop or schooner, helping dress them fore and aft, rig 
 with paper sails, and there was no one of the party seemingly 
 enjoying himself more than our future president. 
 
 Coming so soon into the lime light of public life, it was 
 noticed by the friends of General Cirant that there was no change 
 from the simplicity and ])urity of lif<' led by himself or family 
 while in Galena, and that his interest in the church and Christi- 
 anity increased with his years and experience. So great was 
 that interest in all that makes for good, that he personally 
 suggested and tirged the elevation of the Rev. John R. Newman 
 to the bishopric, to whom the great privilege was afterwards 
 accorded of administering to General Grant the right of bap- 
 tism on Mi. McGregor, officiating at the tomb in Riverside 
 Park, New York City, and on whose authority it is stated that 
 General Grant expressed the hope that he might yet live that 
 he could more fully exemplify in his life the pure doctrines 
 of Christianity. 
 
 As at Paris, so even on Mt. McGregor, our old commander 
 would not drive out on Sunday though it was thought by his 
 physicians that it might benefit him.. 
 
 In speaking on the domestic side of Grant's character, 
 we must not overlook the mother's influence which moulds 
 for so much that is good in the child. In the life of General 
 Washington, also Abraham Lincoln, we read that to the mother's 
 care and instruction was due their love of the good and the true. 
 So it may be said of General Grant, whose sturdy honesty and 
 fixedness of pm-pose were characteristic of his father, but the 
 
 13 
 
domestic virtues were those of the mother, who came of the 
 Avell-kiiown Simpson famil\" fi'om my old home in .Montgomery 
 County, Pennsylvania. 
 
 Followino- the mother's care and instruction, came the 
 love and advic(> of an affectionate and domestic wife as Mrs. 
 Grant was known to her friends, and so to the loving care and 
 wise counsel of mother and wife was our hero indebted for so 
 much which was good and enn()l)ling in his own life and char- 
 acter. 
 
 That General Grant was not afraid to die had been proven 
 upon the many battle-fiekls of his country. l)ut the most sul)- 
 lime evidence of that fact is found in what he said to a friend 
 as he was being removed to Mt. McGregor. 
 
 "1 have be(Mi twice witliin a lialf minute of death. I real- 
 ized it fully and my life was only preserved l)y the skill and 
 attentions of my physicians. 1 have told them the next time 
 to let me go." 
 
 Siich was General Grant's known lo^■e of wife and children 
 that our own Eugene Field, knowing the sufferer's anxiety to 
 see his loved daughter before being called hence, embodied 
 it in the following sweet verse: 
 
 "GRANT" 
 
 His listening soul hears no echo of battle, 
 
 No paean of triumph nor welcome of fame; 
 But down througih the years comes a little one's prattle. 
 
 And softly he nuirniurs her idolized name. 
 And it seems as if now at his heart she were clinging. 
 
 As she clung in those dear distant years to his knee; 
 He sees her fair face and he hears her sweet singing — 
 
 .\iui Nellie is coming from over the sea. 
 While patriot hope stays the fullness of sorrow, 
 
 While our eyes are hedimmed and our voices are low. 
 He dreams of the daughter who comes with the morrow 
 
 Like an angel come back from the dear long ago. 
 Ah! What l(i iiim now is a nation's emotion — 
 
 ,\nd wliat for our love or our grief caret h he? 
 A swift-speeding ship is a-sail on the ocean 
 
 .\nd Nellie is coming from over the sea. 
 
 The end was soon to come when in the (|uiet solitude of 
 .\lt. Met Iregor the white \\iMge(l angel of eternal life would open 
 
 11 
 
the gates to immortality and the ))iu-e spirit of our old com- 
 mander enter into eternal life. 
 
 A few words more and I am done. 
 
 During the last days of the General's life, ho was unal)le 
 to speak and his wants were made known in writing, a jxid and 
 l^encil being provided for that [nn-pose. 
 
 <Jur commander's thoughts were then of you, my com- 
 rades, our country and his loving family, as was made known 
 by the daily bulletins sent out from that mountain cottage. 
 There, but a few hours before his death, with nurse, physicians 
 and all his family, for "Xellie had come from over the sea/' 
 gathered by his bcMlside, the General motioned for a light, 
 for his pail and pencil, when with great difficulty he wrote a 
 note which was passed to his son Colonel Fred, who folded 
 and gave it to his mother. That note was a message of love 
 to the dear wife from A\hom he was so soon to be separated. 
 Xo other eye ever saw that last and most precious message 
 from the dying husl^and to loved wife. It was his last upon 
 earth, and God grant that it was his first in heaven. 
 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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