When a man is energetic and determines to be somebody in the
world--which is praiseworthy so long as that energy is guided by
propriety and a just conception of right--there are always scores,
hundreds, perhaps thousands of people who endeavor to depreciate that
man's reward.
No other excuse can be assigned for the slander and vituperation which
has from time to time been heaped upon the fair reputation of General U.
S. Grant.
Born in obscurity at Point Pleasant, Ohio, April 27th, 1822, his life is
a fitting type of the possibilities of our glorious institutions.
Through the influence of Hon. Thomas L. Hamer he was admitted at West
Point in 1839. Personally, at this early age, he detested war and was
opposed to accepting the opportunity, but his father persuaded him to
go, and his name was blunderingly registered as U. S., instead of H. U.,
hence he was ever after known as U. S. Grant.
In 1843 he graduated, ranking twenty-first in a class of thirty-nine. It
will be remembered that Lee and McClellan each ranked second when they
graduated. At this time Grant was not taken with war, and probably
evinced little interest in army tactics. The Mexican war came on and
Grant here distinguished himself, rising to the rank of captain. After
the war he was stationed at Detroit, and Sacketts Harbor, but this kind
of inactivity was ill-suited to the restless nature of Grant; he
therefore resigned.
Having married a Miss Dent, of St. Louis, he accordingly moved onto a
farm near that city. The next few years he was engaged on the farm, in a
real estate office in St. Louis, and at the outbreak of the civil war
was in business with his father, dealing in leather. When the news of
the fall of Fort Sumter reached Galena he immediately raised a company
and marched to Springfield where they tendered their services to the
governor. Grant acted as mustering officer until, being commissioned
colonel of the Twenty-first Illinois Volunteers, he took the field. His
first great victory was the capture of Fort Donelson with 15,000
prisoners. When asked by the Confederate general what terms of surrender
was expected his answer was, "No terms other than an unconditional and
immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move upon your works
at once." The fall of Fort Donelson and the capture of its garrison
being the first substantial victory that had crowned the Union cause,
together with the above described answer to General Buckner, brought the
name of General Grant prominently before the country.
Pittsburgh Landing followed and then Grant determined to take Vicksburg.
All his generals declared the plan he proposed unmilitary and
impossible, but after several unsuccessful attempts the Gibraltar of the
Mississippi was captured, and this time 27,000 prisoners taken. Now came
the battle of Chattanooga. General Halleck in speaking of this battle
said:
"Considering the strength of the rebel position, and the difficulty of
storming his intrenchments, the battle of Chattanooga must be considered
the most remarkable in history. Indeed it is so. After Grant had turned
the Confederate right flank, Sherman was intercepted between Longstreet
and Bragg, thus cutting Longstreet entirely out, and preventing another
junction being possible. Resolutions of thanks were passed in Ohio and
New York, and Congress created Grant a Lieutenant-General, a commission
which had been held by no one since General Scott resigned. Indeed, if
ever a General deserved honor, Grant had won it; he had opened the
Mississippi to navigation, and had captured nearly 100,000 prisoners and
arms."
He was now commander of all the Federal forces. He at once inaugurated
two campaigns to be carried on at once. One under Sherman, against
Atlanta commanded by the skillful rebel General Johnson; the other under
Meade, directed against Lee and the Confederate capitol. Sherman
advanced upon Atlanta, and the success of his famous march to the sea is
well-known.
The capture of Lee was a far more difficult undertaking. After various
flanking movements and costly assaults, the problem of taking Lee
narrowed itself down to a siege of Petersburg. Grant perceived that his
only hope lie in literally starving the Confederate army out by cutting
off all resources as far as practicable. Lee attempted to draw off
attention toward Washington, but General Sheridan drove Early out of the
Shenandoah Valley, devastating the country to such an extent that it was
impossible to forage an army there should Lee attempt such a maneuver
again. Time wore away, and on the 9th of April, 1865, Grant captured the
Confederate army under Lee, thus virtually ending the war.
On July 25, 1866, he was made general of the United States army; the
rank having been created for him, he was the first to hold it. At the
next Republican Convention, Grant was nominated for President on the
first ballot, and was elected over Seymour, and was re-elected a second
term by an increased majority.
When his public services were finished he started in company with his
wife, son Jesse, and a few friends. They set sail from Philadelphia on
the 17th of May, 1877. They visited nearly all the countries of Europe,
and part of those of Africa and Asia. On this trip the Grant party were
the guests of nearly all the crowned heads of those foreign countries,
everywhere receiving the most exalted honors it has ever been the
pleasure of an American to enjoy, and on his return to the United
States they were the recipients of an ovation in many of the principal
cities of this country.
His success seems to have been the outgrowth of hard study and ability
to perform the most exhaustive labor without fatigue. The scenes of his
later days were clouded with the intrigues of a stock gambler, but the
stain that the Grant-Ward failure seemed likely to throw on the spotless
reputation of General Grant was wiped away when the facts were brought
to light, and a new lustre was added to his fame by the self-sacrifice
shown in the final settlement.
General Grant proved to be a writer of no low order, and his
autobiography is a very readable book. On July 23rd, 1885, the General
surrendered to a loathsome cancer, and the testimonials of devotion
shown the honored dead; and the bereaved family throughout the civilized
world, indicated the stronghold upon the hearts of the people held by
the dead General.