E672 -f A o. * \^ .<^^^^., <-^ '"•'" , ^-^ G^ "-^^0^ °i?^. ^ >?"- .^ * "^„ %^^0* .V •' .^^ flH': ^c>^ - ; ^o-n^ ^=* ^*^^- ^ :>|C^ •mT-' #' "-./-:^5©e/ ,v '^./•^f.^r-y V. > V -^t-. ^^ ^^';>Va>_ V.'^' V\^ ^^r^'i- C" ■ay ci* ^M^^T^ . ■• -or %i» fe V.<^ *-o^ THE EDICT OF LEGEND AN ORATION ON THE LIFE AND SERVICES OF GrENERAL (jRANT, ROBERT LAIRD COLLIER, D. D. DELIVERED AT M^NH^TT^N^ BE^CH, SUNDAY, AUGUST 9th, 1885. D B^i^ THE ARRANGEMENTS. \ o THE EDICT OF LEGEND. ' The endeavor to set forth in fitting words the illustrious career just closed, and to estimate the character of the brave cajatain whose death is our common sorrow and the occasion of a nation's mourning, is not only a melancholy duty, but it is an impossible service. The outline of Gen. Grant's life, the dates of birth and battles, his civic administrations, traveling as in a triumphal car, saluted of all men the earth around, the solemn struggle for life till no courage and patience, however colossal, could longer hold at bay the enemy that in the end conquers all — this outline of days and deeds is already vividly in the mind and weirdly in the heart of every citizen and friend of America. No words can quicken the impression this man has made upon his nation and his generation. It is not for such inspiration that we are called together. It is only wished that our discourse, however full of sympathy, appreciation and eulogy, may not, in contrast with the people's profound sense of bereavement, seem altogether inadequate and depressing. When we would gaze upon the fire of life in eye and upon lip and radi- ant upon every feature, even the most truthful representation in statu- ary is only so much marble, and the disappointment leaves the heart with an ebbing away of hope and in a flood of despondency. April 27, 1822, was the day of welcome; July 23, 1885 was the day of adieu. What contrast of outward condition between the birth and the death! Ulysses S. Grant was born to the lot of the lowly, he grew to the lot of the great, and, dying, he has left a sheen of fame upon the river of time as imperishable as the records of memory. It is the felicity of the memory that it retains the best. While, therefore, men shall prize the virtues of sacrifice, courage and patriotism, and shall honor the most undaunted military genius of any age, the name of Ulysses S. Grant will be held in everlasting remembrance. There is a wisdom in the universe which ordains events, and which raises up its own agents to bring them about. There is not always an economy in the dispensations of nature obvious to the sight of men, for men are without prevision. But men look back upon these events years or ages after they have come to ppss, and bow down in reverence before the beneficence which prept-rea vhe man for each seeming exigency. And thus the peril to nations becomes the stepping stone to the world's advancing civilization. The working of this law in society is as silent as falls the snow^ or as shines the sun. Such an instance is that of the training of Grant for the hour of his country's need. Who shall save us and bring us forth again into union, and loyalty, and peace ? He must be a man brave and self-reliant, self-forgetting and sedate of mind. He must have sight — insight and foresight. He must have faith and believe unto the end. Ho must have a head that success will not turn; a modesty that achievements will not beguile. He must issue orders to "push things," and he himself must "fight it out on this line if it takes aU summer," He must magnanimously demand "an unconditional and immediate surrender." Where can such a man be found ? The boy is born at Point Pleasant, in the State of Ohio. His an- cestors were Scotch, and, like them, he can dare as he can endure. His circumstances are humble. He is born in a cabin; it is best he should be. The training in luxury lies in different fields. He must go where privation and hardships are to be found. But he is just-minded, calm- hearted, of clean hands, and sober manners. The prophecy of greatness is nowhere to be found in all his boyhood, but character, manly and moral, is already there, and this is his credential. It is this — his pure intent and stern integrity — his character, which has given him to us all to save us from national defeat, disgrace and despair. And so he was called to West Point, During four years, from 1839 to 1843, he held on his steady way and grew from boyhood to manhood, abiding by the discipline of the military academy, which upon his strong character was no strain, but which was as natural to him as the use of wings to a bird, or of fins to a fish. When character is born to command, it is wise enough to obey. Obedience is only irksome to weak natures. He ranked 21st in a class of 39, and upon quitting West Point was made a brevet 2d lieutenant in the 4th regiment, which was stationed on the Missouri frontier. During the summer of 1845 his regiment was ordered to Texas to join the army of Gen. Taylor, and in September Grant was commis- sioned as a full lieutenant. On May 8, 1846, he took part in his first battle, and saw blood shed at Palo Alto. He was thereafter upon every important field of the Mexican war. He was twice brevetted, and after the battle of Molino del Rey, September 8, 1847, he was appointed a 1st lieutenant for conspicuous bravery. In his report of the battle of Chepultepec, September 13, 1847, Col. Garland, commanding the 1st brigade, said : " The rear of the enemy had made a stand behind a breastwork, from which they were driven by detachments of the 2d artillery under Capt. Brooks and the 4th infantry under Lieut. Grant, supported by other regiments of the division, after a short but sharp conflict. I must not omit to call attention to Lieut. Grant, 4th infantry, who acquitted himself most nobly upon several occasions under my own observation." He was brevetted captain, his commission to date from the battle of Chepultepec. In 1848 he married Miss Julia Dent, a sister of one of his classmates. In 1852 he accompanied his regiment to California and Oregon, and August 5, 1853, was made a full captain. On the last day of July, 1S54, ho resigned his post in the army. And in doing so he did ■MllWIMBMiBMTifiMl'lirini 3 not forsake the patli of duty, but followed it. He was a man of action, and his country, by which and for which he had been educated, had no need of his service. From 1854 to 1861 Grant lived the life of a plain man, with no vision of fame before his eyes. Genius has but one mark ; it is born to one duty — performing this, it becomes im- mortal. It is alike appropriate and opportune to dwell upon the career of our illustrious hero, for no man who ever lived more surely and steadfastly consecrated his genius to the cause set before him. He began in 1861 where he had left off in 1854. He stepped into his place, not as into one of opportvmity, but as into one of patriotism. He was walking a lowly path at Galena, and only walked another be- cause it was a duty. He began on the spot where he was to drill a com- pany of volunteers, and with them marched to the caj)ital of his State, and from thence he wrote to the Adjutant-General of the United States in these terms : " I tender my services in any capacity in which I can be of use. " He was retained at Springfield as an aide to the Governor of Hlinois, and acted as mustering officer until he was placed in command of the 2l8t regiment, his commission dating from June 17, 1861. On August 23 he was promoted to be a brigadier-general, and his commis- sion was dated back to May 17. True soldier that he was, he was soon in his saddle, and began to act. He seized Paducah . He commanded in person at Belmont, and had a horse shot under him. Fort Donelson is captured. Buckner, who commands the rebel forces, proposes a commission to arrange terms of capitulation, to which Grant replies : " No terms other than unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works." This is inspiring; this is magnetic; this is prophetic; Grant is to the fore, and the war is begun. U. S. Grant is henceforth "Unconditional Surrender" Grant. In its fiction and in its fact this is synonymous with "United States" Grant. The blunder made in writing his name Ulysses S. Grant, instead of Hiram Ulysses Grant, when appointed a cadet at West Point, became an irrevocable military decree, and U. S. it shall be. The name is alike the same, and immortal, whether we read it as it is written in military annals or as written more imperishably in the hearts of his countrymen. Well nigh a year had passed amid alternating hope and disappoint- ment. The capture of Fort Donelson was the first substantial victory that crowned the Federal arms. Its hero sprang at once into national celebrity. He was thereupon commissioned major-general of volunteers, to date from February 16, the day of the fort's surrender. Patriotism mounts the ramparts of Donelson, and there are revealed to i^atriotism's present sight the splendid endowments, and to its future faith the mag- nificent achievements, of its hero. Although Halleck disapproved of Grant's plans for its capture, after the surrender of Vicksburg he said : " In boldness of plan, rapidity of exiscution and brilliancy of routes these operations will compare favor- ably with those of Napoleon about Ulm." The President watched with throbbing interest and jn'omiitest gratitude the alert actiA'ity and un- daunted valor of Grant and his army, and when whispers grew into clamor for Grant's removal, it was this man of destiny— candidate for the crown of martyrdom — who faltered not in his faith, but who said, out of the instinct of patriotism : "I rather like the man ; I think we will try him a little longer. " Vicksburg was the answer to Lincoln's faith, and ten days after its surrender he wrote to Grant, saying : " My Dear General : I do not remember that you and I ever met personally. I write this now as a grateful acknowledgment for the almost inestimable service you have done the country. I wish to say a word further. When you first reached the vicinity of Vicksburg, I thought you should do what you finally did— march the troops across the neck, run the batteries with the transports, and thus go below ; and I never had any faith, except a general hope, that you knew better than I that the Yazoo Pass expedition and the like could succeed. When you got below and took Port Gibson, Grand Gulf and vicinity, I thought you should go down the river and join Gen. Banks ; and when you turned northward, east of the Big Black, I feared it was a mistake. I now wish to make a j)ersonal acknowledgment that you were right and I was wrong." The rank of major-general in the regular army was now conferred upon the hero of Vicksburg. "On the 23d, 24th and the 25th of November, 1863, the battle of Chattanooga was fought, which included the famous struggles on Look- out Mountain and Missionary Ridge. Grant was personally under fire much of the time, and personally superintended every disposition of his troops. The result electrified the country, and more than inspired the army. No such battle had been fought west of the mountains. Grant led 60,000 men into action, and his lines were thirteen miles long. He captured more than 6,000 prisoners, about fifty pieces of artillery and 7,000 stand of small arms." Gen. Halleck, in his annual report, wrote : *' Considering the strength of the rebel position and the difficulty of storming his entrenchments, the battle of Chattanooga must be considered the most remarkable in history. Not only did the officers and men exhibit great skill and daring in their operations in the field, but the highest praise is due the commanding general for his admirable dispositions for dislodg- ing the enemy from a laosition almost imijregnable, " The first measure passed in the congressional session of 1863-4 was a resolution providing that a gold medal be struck for Gen. Grant, and returning thanks to him and his army. A bill reviving the grade of lieutenant-general was passed, and on March 1, 1864, the President signed the bill and nominated Grant for the post, which the Senate on the following day confirmed. On March 8 Grant arrived in Washington, and on the 9th he was formally jaresentod to the President, who addressed him with fervor and in these words: " Gen. Grant, the nation's appreciation of what you have done, and its reliance upon you for what remains to be done in the existing great struggle, are now presented with this commission constituting you Lieutenaiit-General in the Army of the United States. With this high 5 honor devolves upon you also a corresponding responsibility. As the country herein trusts you, so, under God, At will sustain you. I scarcely need to add that, with what I here speak for the nation, goes my own hearty personal concurrence." To this. Gen. Grant replied as follows: " Mr. President, I accept the commission, with gratitude for the high honor conferred. With the aid of the noble armies that have fought in so many fields for our common country, it will be my earnest endeavor not to disappoint your expectations. I feel the full weight of the re- sponsibility now devolving ui^on me; and I know if they are met, it will be due to those armies, and above all to the favor of that Providence which leads both nations and men." Before leaving Washington, Grant, with happy and beautiful thought- fulness, wrote to Gen. Sherman this soldierly letter: " While I have been eminently successful in this war, in at least gaining the confidence of the public, no one feels more than I how much of this success is due to the energy, skill and the harmonious putting forth of that energy and skill of those whom it has been my good for- tune to have occupying subordinate positions tinder me." In his letter of reply, Sherman used the following language: *' You are now Washington's legitimate successor, and occupy a posi- tion of almost dangerous elevation; but if you can continue, as hereto- fore, to be yourself, simple, honest and unpretending, you will enjoy through life the respect and love of friends and the homage of millions of human beings, who will award you a large share in securing to them and their descendants a government of law and stability. * * * I believe you are as brave, patriotic and just as the great prototype Wash- ington — as unselfish, kind-hearted and honest as a man should be — but the chief characteristic is the simple faith in success you have always manifested, which I can liken to nothing else than the faith a Christian has in the Saviour. Your reputation as a general is now far above that of any man living, and partisans will maneuver for your influence; but, if you can escape them, as you have hitherto done, you will be more powerful for good than it is possible to measure." The lieutenant-general now returns to Washington, and, with his head- quarters in the field, assumes command of all the national forces. With quite 700,000 men in the field, he plans the two gigantic campaigns with which the rebellion is brought to a close; the one under Gen. Meade, to operate against Richmond, defended by Lee; the other, under Gen. Sherman, against Atlanta, defended by Johnson. In April, 1865, Rich- mond was evacuated, and Grant forced the surrender of Lee's army on the 9th of that month. Johnson was unable to check the advance of Sherman, and Hood, his successor in command, lost his army before Nashville. Grant had conquered the peace for which he had foiight, and Lincoln was transfigured in the glory of a martyr's death. In military rank, Grant was now the peer of Washington and Scott. But July 25, 1866, he was commissioned the "general" of the army, the honor having been created for the man to whom the nation owed a debt of gratitude no human homage could ever pay. His splendid services in the field were to be remembered when no longer there were battles to be won. And he who had saved the nation by war was now the best equipped to heal the wounds which war had made. It were a mockery of the loftiest in- stincts of patriotism and gratitude to look elsewhere among men for one to sit in the seat of the martyred President. He who had borne the strife of battle and its expectancy of death was best fitted to cherish the blessing, and readiest to invoke the coming of peace. The first general 6 of America had been its first president, and its greatest general was to be its greatest president. But why traverse the events in the life of this man of solemn mien and silent lips ? That subtle force of will which is the conqueror first of self dominates all events and brings them to pass. For, after all, it was this — his character — which overcame difficulties which no tactics, no strategy, no prowess could have brooked and conquered. The esti- mate of Ulysses S. Grant which dates his greatness with the victory at Donelsou misses the golden thread of sequence. For there is the same life running through all his days as through all his deeds. The qualities which shone forth in such conspicuous splendor at Vicksburg and Chattanooga were no other than those which marked his conduct upon every field in Mexico. This same force was mighty and persistent through those desperate days of his last encounter with suffering and death. His character was greater than all victories, and more imperish- able than all renown. Before Grant was soldier or statesman he had the sense of justice, the sentiment of generosity, the singleness of aim, the industry of duty which made him a man. His crown of manhood, rather than "^ the sword of the soldier or the sceptre of the statesman, is the secret of his conquests and the pledge of his fame. His character was as transparent as the atmosphere. He was never less than himself. If his speech was restrained, it was never the reticence of concealment. If he had nothing to reveal, he had nothing to hide. He was silent when he had nothing to say. Manliness in a man is his charm and fas- cination. During Grant's first term of office as President he attended service in the church of which I was the minister in Chicago, when the sermon was treating of the unity of the race and the brotherly obligations of man as man. The President took occasion after the service to speak in commendation of the aim of the sermon, and, with beautiful simplicity, said, in the tersest sentence : ' ' Men are more scarce than heroes." At the house of a friend in Chicago I was sitting alone with him late into the night, when he closed a long and thoughtful discourse, which I seldom interrupted, by referring to the irresponsible way in which even friends would profi'er advice, and rising from his chair, he said: "I have never lacked for people to give me — advice." On Thanksgiving day, 1876, when the country was under no little strain of evil apprehension, I was in Washington, and sitting with the President in his private office. He asked me if the people thought there would be any trouble about the inauguration of the President- elect. In reply, I said that the people naturally looked to him, and asked what he would do should there be any lawlessness or outbreak. The President looked amused, and pleasantly answered: "I know what I would do, but I don't mean to tell. " It is probably true that no man of like renown with Gen. Grant has ever been so fully reported to the world. He kept copies of his dispatches, and memoranda of all important events in his military and civic career. He practically revised and edited the military history written by Gen. Badeau, and the account of his trij? round the world, written by Mr. John Russell Young. ; For a quarter of a century he has stood in the focus of a full flood of light. He was literally read and known of all men. With all this knowledge of Gen. Grant, it is not known that he ever wrote or spoke an unjust or ungenerous word of any human being. He was as magnanimous as he was manly. Vain minds have grievances. Grant was never conscious of one. In his passage at arms with President Johnson, he gave expression to the indignity that had been put upon him. On August 12, 1867, President Johnson removed Edwin M. Stanton from the office of Secretary of War, and Gen. Grant was appointed by the President Secretary of War ad interim. He performed the duties of Secretary of War until January 14, 1868. The Senate had refused to concur with the President in the removal of Stanton, and Grant quietly allowed him to resume his duties in the office from which he had been displaced. Grant was much displeased with his own treatment, as the following exract from his letter of February 3, to Johnson, will show : ' ' I can but regard this whole matter from the beginning to the end as an attempt to involve me in a resistance of law, for which you hesitate to assume the responsibility in orders, and thus to destroy my character before the country. I am, in a measure, confirmed in this conclusion in your recent orders directing me to disobey orders from the Secretary of War, my superior and your subordinate, without having countermanded his authority to issue the orders I am to disobey. " In illustration of the charming generosity of his mind, his references to Gen. Halleck may be cited: "It was only after Donelson that I began to see how important was the work that Providence devolved upon me. And yet after Donelson I was in disgrace and under arrest, and practically without a command, because of some misunderstanding on the part of Halleck. It all came right in time. I never bore Halleck iU will on account of it, and we remained friendly. He was in command, and it was his duty to command as he pleased. But I hardly know what would have come of it, as far as I was concerned, had not the country interfered. The country saved me from Halleck's displeasure." After the battle of Donelson, he informed Gen. Buckner that he had no desire to humiliate his prisoners, but the officers might retain their side arms, and they and the men were left in possession of their personal baggage. Buckner presented Grant to his troops, and assured the Con- federate prisoners that Gen. Grant had been kind and magnanimous to them, and charged them to remember it. He was as magnanimous in the cabinet as he was upon the field. The spirit of his administration is embodied in these notable and noble words: " We will not deny to any of those who fought against us any privileges under the government which we claim for ourselves. On the contrary, we welcome all such who come forward in good faith to help build up the waste places, and to perpetuate our institutions against all enemies, as brothers in full interest with us in a common heritage ; but we are not prepared to apologize for the part we took in the war." In the portraiture of Gen. Grant it must be said that his manliness and his magnanimity were not more conspicuous than his modesty. His modesty was not the suppression of self-reference, suggested by social diplomacy. His character was moulded and developed upon lines of action so unselfish in their aim, and so comprehensive in their result, that a just estimate of himself left no place for vanity, which is the resource — and perhaj^s the last conscious resource — of small minds. Sometimes the effort to create in other people a just knowledge of our motives may have the ajjpearance of vanity, but Gen. Grant was free from even this somewhat pardonable foible. If ever the volume of fame were an apology for personal assumptions, it might have been in the case of this man already clothed in romance that hung about him like a glory. It was in this weedless soil that sprang up the religious habit of his mind and life. The men of supreme powers in all the his- tory of the race have been, not only reverent, but devout. History has an unbroken testimony to bear to the truth of this statement. Men whose vision does not include God with a distinctness that begets adoration and obedience are men whose limitations remand them to the lower ranks of intellectual and moral endowment. Gen, Grant's sense of moral distinctions was both sure and steadfast. He was gentle as sleeping infancy; as silent as the forces of nature; as strong as the battlements of rectitude. " No low born form is thine ; albeit thou com'st Wearing no ornaments." The written history of this man will never reach the truth. This must be left to the larger and subtler insight of legend. The truth is not wholly told when dates and details are chronicled. Indeed, facts seldom aid that impression which finally becomes reputation, and which is forever thereafter a man's place and rank in tradition. There is, therefore, a less and a larger history, the history of fact and the history of truth. When the outward history of genius has been written, romance so retouches its features as to give to cold data grace and charm, reality and life. General Grant was the definitive and determining factor in the most gigantic and most momentous war for the integrity and permanence of free and popular government known to the annals of mankind. And this he was by the nation's dire necessity. A republic is a form of government, not for war, but for peace. When the rights of all the people are at stake, war has the aspect of self-murder. Kings may wage war, for then only the subjects of the King may suffer. But when the sovereign people go to war, it is the sovereign people Avho must brave the dangers and reap the harvest of death, and perhaps of defeat and shame. Monarchies go to war for aggrandizement and conquest ; but not so reiaublics. It is not for the glory of a crown that a republic exists, but for the prosperity of a people. The people do not wage war ; they go to war to defend their rights and to preserve the peace. And patriotism knows no higher duty than this. The war which called General Grant from his humble home and lowly lot was no iiroject of territorial gi-eed, nor yet the hazard of a mistaken sentiment. Alexander and Napoleon drew the sword in contempt of human life. Washington and Grant drew the sword in defense of human life . It is to the unfading glory of themselves and the cause they served that they sheathed the sword when liberty was won. The instinct of the race has not, therefore, gone astray. The military hero is the most fascinating and the most romantic figure in history"! It is the spirit of his calling to lay down his life for his country. This is the ideal hero. Individually he may be misled. He may go fortli upon an errand of theft and murder. Notwithstanding the iniquity of war, he who inspii-es it, who successfully wages it, stands for the ideal of sacrifice. And in chieftain or in saint it is this virtue of sacrifice which the instinct of men holds in reverence. General Grant not only fought bravely, but he fought in a good cause ; he fought for hearthstone and altar ; for his country's life and for liberty. Washington and Lincoln have gone before, and have borne witness to the truth. They builded wisely, and their work shall not perish in the earth. Grant's renown shall not be less than theirs. The sedate- ness of his character, the solemnity of his conduct, the restraint of his speech, the fidelity of his attachments, the magnitude of his achieve- ments combine to lift his name to an altitude of sislendor which only legend can translate to the understanding of the centuries. Washing- ton, Lincoln, Grant ! It is the edict of legend that the greatest of these is Grant. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmsmm <^~ ^ ^ % ^^^ .^ s^ .0"' O * O K O "^ '0- ^' mf *0 V . ^i/;^i ■^^'^ ^o \ •j:; ■-■<« ^^-?^' .*■'" i5 s o>.