Mrs. George E. Pickett, wife of General Pickett, who led the
fatal charge the last day at Gettysburg against the Union
forces, writes of the tender memories she had of Grant. She
called upon him with her husband while he was President. Grant
knew that his old comrade of West Point had been made a poor
man by the war, and he offered him the marshalship of Virginia.
While sorely needing help, he appreciated the heavy draft made
upon the President by office-seekers, and said: “You can’t
afford to do this for me now, and I can’t afford to take it”;
but Grant instantly replied with firmness, “I can afford to do
anything I please that is right.”--Col. NICHOLAS SMITH,
“Grant, the Man of Mystery.”
(604)