On the eventful morning when the telegraph flashed to every corner of

this western continent, the news that Sumter had been fired upon by

Southern guns, and with that news the President’s proclamation calling

for 75,000 troops, Grant was at his store, and his response was prompt

and characteristic. Taking his coat from the counter where it lay, he

drew it on, simply remarking, “Uncle Sam educated me for the army, and

although I have served through one war, I feel I am still a little in

debt for my education, and I am ready and willing to discharge the

obligation. I am for the war, to put down this wicked rebellion.” Into

the street he went, talked with some of his acquaintances, and speedily

raised a company of volunteers, with which he repaired to Springfield

and tendered their services to Governor Yates. That indefatigable and

patriotic State officer has since given the following interesting

account of his first acquaintance with the future hero of the war: “In

April, 1861, he tendered his personal services to me, saying, that he

‘had been the recipient of a military education at West Point, and that

now, when the country was involved in a war for its preservation and

safety, he thought it his duty to offer his services in defense of the

Union, and that he would esteem it a privilege to be assigned to any

position where he could be useful.’ The plain, straightforward demeanor

of the man, and the modesty and earnestness which characterized his

offer of assistance, at once awakened a lively interest in him, and

impressed me with a desire to secure his counsel for the benefit of

volunteer organizations then forming for government service. At first I

assigned, him a desk in the Executive office; and his familiarity with

military organizations and regulations made him an invaluable assistant

in my own and the office of the Adjutant-General. Soon his admirable

qualities as a military commander became apparent, and I assigned him to

the camps of organization at ‘Camp Yates,’ Springfield, ‘Camp Grant,’

Mattoon, and ‘Camp Douglas,’ at Anna, Union County, at which the 7th,

8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 18th, 19th, and 21st regiments of Illinois

Volunteers, raised under the call of the President of the 15th of April,

and under the ‘Ten Regiment Bill,’ of the extraordinary session of the

legislature convened April 23, 1861, were rendezvoused. His employment

had special reference to the organization and muster of these forces—the

first six into the United States, and the last three into the State

service. This was accomplished about the 10th of May, 1861, at which

time he left the State for a brief period on a visit to his father, at

Covington, Kentucky.” At this juncture Governor Yates found himself

greatly perplexed to find a competent officer to command the 21st

regiment, Illinois Volunteers, in camp at Mattoon, and which had become

much demoralized by the incompetency of its officers. Acting upon his

own favorable impressions of Grant, and by the earnest advice of those

who knew him best, he telegraphed to Grant to take the charge of the

refractory regiment and bring it into a proper state of discipline.

Grant promptly appeared at Mattoon, assumed command of the regiment,

June 15, 1861, and removed it to Caseyville for reorganization. In

Governor Yates’s words: “Thirty days previous to that time, the regiment

numbered over 1000 men; but in consequence of laxity in discipline of

the first commanding officer, and other discouraging obstacles connected

with the acceptance of troops at that time, but 603 were found willing

to enter the three years’ service. In less than ten days Colonel Grant

filled the regiment to the maximum standard, and brought it to a state

of discipline seldom attained in the volunteer service in so short a

time.” Quincy, Illinois, was at this time supposed to be in danger from

attack by Missouri rebels, and an application reached Governor Yates for

a force sufficient for its protection. The railroads were lacking in the

necessary facilities for transportation, and the Governor was sorely

puzzled how to meet the demand, when he received word from Colonel Grant

saying, “Send _my_ regiment, and I will find the transportation.” At

once the order was given to send the 21st, and before night it commenced

the march on foot, accomplishing the whole distance of 120 miles on foot

(the only regiment that left the camp of organization on foot), and

arrived in good time and excellent order. The duty to which the 21st, in

company with others, was assigned, was the protection of the Hannibal

and St. Louis Railroad, and it being necessary that a brigadier-general

should be assigned to the command of the regiments employed upon this

service, the choice fell upon Grant (although the youngest colonel on

the ground), who took command at Mexico, Missouri, upon the 31st of

July, 1861, being fully commissioned on the 9th of the following month.

Brigadier-General Grant was now sent with a large force into Southern

Missouri, then threatened by the rebel general, Jeff. Thompson. He

superintended the erection of fortifications at Ironton and Marble

Creek, and having garrisoned both places, hastened to the defense of

Jefferson City, which he protected from rebel attack for ten days.

Thompson having abandoned his purpose, Grant was next ordered to the

command of the important post of Cairo, Ill., which commanded the Ohio

and Upper Mississippi rivers, and was a depot of supplies for an

extensive region. This district included Western Kentucky, whose

citizens were at that time trying to remain “on the fence,” until they

could better see which side was to succeed; and General Grant, learning

that the rebels had finally crossed the lines, and possessed themselves

of Columbus and Hickman, on the Mississippi, and Bowling Green, on the

Green River, promptly availed himself of the opportunity of seizing

positions within the State furnished by these violations of Kentucky’s

proposed neutrality, and quietly sent troops (September 6) up the Ohio,

to Paducah, at the mouth of the Tennessee, and (on the 25th) to

Smithland, at the mouth of the Cumberland River—thus effectually closing

two of the principal avenues through which the rebels obtained supplies

of food, clothing, arms, etc., from the North. He next turned his

attention to Columbus, Ky., then held by the rebel Major-General Polk,

but was prevented from attacking him by the withdrawal of a large

portion of his force to St. Louis; and on the 11th, learning that the

rebel general, Jeff. Thompson, was contemplating a raid through

southwestern Missouri, he sent an expedition which defeated and routed

him near Dallas, on the 21st of October. Then, being apprised of Jeff.

Thompson’s intention to blockade the Mississippi River, and move upon

his own position at Cairo, he determined to break up the camp at

Belmont, Mo., where the rebels were concentrating. At the head of two

brigades, he moved down the Mississippi in steamers. On the 6th of

November they reached Belmont, marched rapidly upon the enemy’s camp,

two and a half miles distant, forced their way over all obstructions,

and surprised the rebels, capturing camp equipage, artillery, small

arms; burning tents, blankets, etc., and capturing many prisoners. On

their return to the steamers, however, the victorious Union army was met

by about 4,000 rebel troops, who, under command of Generals Polk,

Pillow, and Cheatham, were hastening to reinforce their comrades, and a

fierce battle ensued. The Union force, although losing some of the

prisoners it had taken, succeeded in reaching the river, and embarking

again in safety, under cover of gun-boats, bringing with them two cannon

which they had taken, and spiking two others, which they were obliged to

leave. The advantages of this fight, on the whole, were with the Union

troops, who also gained new confidence in themselves, and in their

commander.

General Grant remained for some time in command of the Cairo district

(which was subsequently enlarged, so as to include all the southern

portion of Illinois, that part of Kentucky west of the Cumberland River,

and the southern counties of Missouri), and performed a most important

work in reorganizing, training, and distributing to various posts, the

large number of newly mustered troops constantly sent into his district.

On the 14th of January, 1862, he made an extended reconnoissance in

force for the purpose of ascertaining the rebel strength and position

around Columbus; and in fact, kept up such a feint of attack upon that

point as led to large concentration there of the rebel forces. Meanwhile

a fleet of gun-boats had been constructed above Cairo, manned and placed

under command of Flag-officer A. H. Foote. Then, when all was ready,

Grant secretly withdrew the two divisions with which he had been

threatening Columbus, and leaving one to defend his base at Cairo,

joined the other to two large divisions, which had been concentrated at

Paducah (at the mouth of the Tennessee), and at Smithland (at the mouth

of the Cumberland). With these, he then moved on Fort Henry, on the

Tennessee; at which point, also, the gun-boats arrived on the morning of

February 6, in advance of the troops, who had been delayed by the

condition of the roads. The fleet, however, attacked at once, and after

a brief but spirited engagement, the fort surrendered, the rebels

outside making their escape to Fort Donelson. Grant, whose plans had

thus been anticipated by the gallant Foote, now undertook the capture of

Fort Donelson, a larger and stronger work, garrisoned by over 20,000

troops, and which still obstructed the passage of the Cumberland River,

and the advance of the Union army southward. By the evening of the 12th,

the fort was invested on all but the river front, which was, however,

covered on the 14th by the arrival of the gun-boats, and a combined land

and water attack was made, which, owing to damage done to the boats, was

unsuccessful. On the following morning, a sortie by the rebel garrison

broke the Union right and captured two batteries. Rallying to their

work, the Union troops recaptured nearly all their guns, and then ensued

a desperate, shifting, uncertain, hand-to-hand fight, unfavorable on the

whole to the Union side. But the cool, calm judgment, and the

indomitable tenacity of Grant wrested victory from the very jaws of

defeat; and the desperate heroism of his men, inspired by his example,

secured for his army by nightfall, a position which, it was evident,

would give them the possession of the fort on the morrow. Generals Floyd

and Pillow escaped during the night with a brigade of rebel troops, and

Buckner, who was left in command, sent to General Grant, at early dawn

on the following morning (16th), a proposition for an armistice pending

negotiations for surrender. To this Grant sent his brief but famous

reply: “_No other terms than unconditional and immediate surrender can

be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works._” Finding

parley useless, the rebel General was obliged to surrender, which he did

rather ungraciously; and the fort, with 13,000 prisoners, 3,000 horses,

48 field-pieces, 17 heavy guns, 20,000 stand of arms, and a large

quantity of stores, etc., fell into the possession of the Union army;

and on the following day, two rebel Tennesseean regiments, uninformed of

the surrender, marched into the fort with colors flying, and were made

prisoners. The capture of Forts Henry and Donelson, rendered Columbus

and Bowling Green untenable by the rebel forces,—General Polk retreating

to Island No. 10, and Johnson to Nashville. General Grant was now

commissioned a Major-General of Volunteers, dating from February 16,

1862; and March 5th was assigned to the command of the new military

district of West Tennessee, bounded on the south by the Tennessee River

and the Mississippi State line, and on the west by the Mississippi

River, as far north as Cairo. From this district, Grant now proposed to

drive out the rebels, and he accordingly sent gun-boats up the

Cumberland, accompanied along the west bank of the river by a division

of troops. Clarksville, an important base of supplies on the river, was

captured soon after, garrisoned, and held,—the gun-boats ascending the

river to open the way for General Buell’s army, then marching on

Nashville. After the fall of that place, they returned to the Ohio, and

reconnoitred the Tennessee River as far as Florence, Alabama. Grant, who

meanwhile had been engaged in reorganizing, and sending forward troops

and supplies, then moved his head-quarters to Fort Henry, from whence he

scoured the country in all directions. Meanwhile General Albert Sydney

Johnston, who had been obliged to vacate Nashville, had concentrated an

army of 45,000 men, under able generals, at Corinth, Miss., at the

junction of the Mobile and Ohio and Memphis and Charleston railroads. It

was but twenty miles from Pittsburg Landing and Shiloh, on the west bank

of the Tennessee, which had already been selected as a base of

operations for the Union forces; and General Buell’s army of the Ohio

was now _en route_ from Nashville to meet Grant’s command there, with

such haste as the roads permitted. Johnston attempted to attack Grant’s

army before Buell’s arrival, and while Lew. Wallace’s division was yet

at Crump’s Landing, some six miles distance from the battle-field,

hoping thus to be able to conquer the Union forces in detail. At

daybreak of April 6, the blow suddenly fell upon Grant’s left

(Prentiss’s division), which, although surprised, fought bravely, but

finally gave way under the pressure, and were hurried as prisoners to

the rebel rear. Next the rebels massed upon W. H. L. Wallace’s and

Sherman’s divisions, and the former General being mortally wounded, his

troops were driven back. Sherman’s force, however, held its position,

and repulsed the enemy in two several attacks. Meanwhile, other parts of

the Union line had been fiercely attacked by large bodies of rebel

troops, and had been gradually pressed back nearly two and a half miles

toward the Tennessee River. Sherman had by this time taken a new

position, which he held firmly against all attack; and the scattered

Union batteries, being collected by General Webster (Grant’s chief of

artillery), opened a steady fire upon the rebels, who were attempting to

flank the Union left, with a view to possess themselves of the landing.

This fire, together with that of two gun-boats in the river, and the

news of the near approach of Buell’s advance, which had just arrived

across the river from the scene of action, checked the rebels, and both

armies rested on their arms until the following morning. In the evening,

Lew. Wallace’s division reached the battle-field, and during the night,

General Nelson’s division of Buell’s army crossed the river; the

remainder, however, did not come over until the morning of the 7th.

Assigning to the centre the troops which had stood their ground on the

previous day, General Grant placed Wallace’s division on the right, and

Nelson’s on the left, and boldly attacked the rebel line. The fighting,

although not so heavy as on the preceding day, was spirited, and the

field was substantially won by the Union troops by noon, at which time

the remainder of Buell’s army came up. By about 5 P. M., the rebels,

defeated, routed, and much demoralized, abandoned the field, and night

fell upon what had been thus far the most sanguinary contest of the war.

The Union loss, in killed, wounded, missing, and prisoners, was 13,298;

that of the rebels 10,699, with a remarkable loss of general officers.

The wearied troops spent the night upon the battle-field, and pursuit

was made on the 8th by General Sherman, who destroyed the rebel camp and

a large amount of ammunition.

On the 13th of April, General Halleck, with a powerful army, composed of

sixteen divisions under Generals Grant, Buell, and Pope, advanced from

Pittsburg Landing to the attack of Corinth. On the 17th May, the Union

army commenced a series of regular approaches to the town, which Grant

was anxious to carry (as he was confident of his ability to do) by

assault. Halleck refused, and a quarrel ensued between the two, the only

one recorded in Grant’s military career. On the night of the 28th, the

rebels evacuated the closely invested city, moving southward along the

Mobile and Ohio Railroad, to a safer position. New Orleans and Memphis

had, meanwhile, surrendered to the Union flag. On the 17th, General

Halleck was appointed General-in-Chief of the United States armies, and

Grant was assigned to the command of a newly created department of West

Tennessee, embracing Northern Mississippi, West Tennessee, Western

Kentucky, and Southern Illinois. His head-quarters were at Memphis,

which he quickly cleared of the illicit traffic carried on by crafty

secessionists, gamblers, speculators, and smugglers. Grant now

determined to attempt the reduction of Vicksburg, the key to the

navigation of the Mississippi, strong by nature, and rendered apparently

impregnable by military science. Even before its fortifications were

completed, in the summer of 1862, Admiral Farragut’s squadron had made

no impression upon it; and General Williams’s attempt to turn the

current of the river through a canal cut across the peninsula, formed by

the bend of the stream in front of the city, had proved a failure. After

full preparation for the enterprise, General Grant, in December, began

his movement down the Mississippi Central Railroad, in order to flank

Vicksburg, which was to be attacked at the same time on the north and

northwest, by Sherman descending the river from Memphis. His plans,

however, were deranged by the pusillanimity of the colonel commanding at

Holly Springs, where his chief depot of supplies was established, and he

was obliged to forego his expected junction with Sherman. The latter

general, unsupported by Grant, and unaware of the cause of his failure,

attacked Vicksburg; but after three days’ hard fighting, was obliged to

abandon the assault. Grant next descended the Mississippi to Young’s

Point, a little above Vicksburg, and at first renewed the canal project,

which was rendered futile by a sudden flood in the river; then he

attempted an entrance to the Yazoo, by the old Yazoo Pass, and

afterwards by a circuit through Steel’s and Black’s bayous, Duck and

Deer creeks, and Rolling Fork and Sunflower rivers. All these attempts

failing to meet the emergency, he determined—despite the numerous and

apparently insuperable difficulties which presented themselves—to attack

the fortress and city from below. Sending a part of the gun-boat fleet,

and sixteen or eighteen transports laden with forage and supplies, past

the batteries on two different nights,—a most heroic act, which was

accomplished with only the loss of two transports,—General Grant marched

his army through the country west of the Mississippi to Hard Times, La.,

a distance of seventy miles, over roads well-nigh impassable,

accomplishing the distance in thirty days. The gun-boats, after an

ineffectual attempt to capture Grand Gulf as a base of operations, ran

the batteries in the night, and on the morning of March 30, commenced to

ferry over the troops to Bruinsburg, ten miles below. This was more

easily effected, inasmuch as a simultaneous demonstration by General

Sherman against Haines’s Bluff, attracted all their attention in that

direction. From Bruinsburg, Grant’s army moved rapidly to Port Gibson,

thus flanking Grand Gulf, which was evacuated by the rebels, and

immediately occupied by the Union forces as a base of operations. Here,

also, they were quickly joined by General Sherman’s army, and, as had

been previously arranged by Grant, Colonel Grierson starting from

Lagrange, at the junction of the Mississippi Central with the Memphis

and Charleston railroads, and following the lines of the Mobile and Ohio

and Mississippi Central railroads, and the Meridian and Jackson roads,

reached Baton Rouge on the 1st of May, having very thoroughly cut the

rebel communications. Grant now threw his army between Johnston and

Pemberton, routed the former, and drove the latter into Vicksburg, and

by the 18th, had completely invested that city on the land side, and was

in communication with the squadron and transports by way of Walnut

Bluffs, above the river. On the 19th and 22d, assaults were made upon

the city, but without decisive results, and a regular siege was

commenced, which, after a prolonged and heroic resistance by the people

and garrison, resulted in its _unconditional_ surrender on the 4th of

July, 1863. 34,620 prisoners, 211 field-pieces, 90 siege guns, and

45,000 small arms fell into the hands of the victors; in addition to

which the rebels sustained a loss of 11,800 killed, wounded, or

deserters. The Union losses had been 8,575 killed, wounded, and missing.

Sending Sherman to Jackson, to defeat and break up the rebel General

Johnston’s army, Grant sought and obtained a brief furlough—the first he

had enjoyed during the two and a quarter years he had been in the

army—in order to visit his family. Returning down the Mississippi—now,

thanks to his genius and skill, open to navigation for its whole

length—he visited General Banks at New Orleans, and while there

(September 4), was seriously injured by a fall from his horse, so that

it was not until November that he was able to take an active part in

military affairs. He was then given the command of the Grand Military

Division of the Mississippi, comprising the armies of the Cumberland,

the Tennessee, and the Ohio, and promptly undertook the expulsion of the

rebels from the Chattanooga Valley, and the possession of Lookout

Mountain and Mission Ridge, from which points they were enabled to

impede all railroad and river communication with Louisville and

Nashville. The rebel General Bragg, who was besieging Chattanooga, sent

word, on the 21st of November, to General Grant, that “humanity would

dictate the removal of all non-combatants” from the city, as he was

about to shell it. Grant’s plans, however, had all been carefully laid,

and were now in course of execution, and the only reply to this rebel

braggart was in the shape of quick, hard blows. Burnside was engaged in

luring Longstreet’s force of 20,000 men, which had been detached from

the rebel army for operations in East Tennessee, to such a distance as

would render it impossible for them to aid General Bragg when the final

movement should be made on him. Another force cut the railroads leading

to Knoxville; General Hooker, by a fine strategic movement, seized

Lookout Mountain; and Thomas, moving out from Chattanooga, had obtained,

with some hard fighting, possession of Orchard Knob, and another hill in

front of the city, which commanded a part of Mission Ridge and the rebel

forts situated thereon. On the 25th, Grant ordered Sherman to

demonstrate strongly and persistently against Fort Buckner, at the

northern extremity of Mission Ridge, with a view of drawing thither the

greater part of the rebel troops in Forts Breckinridge and Bragg, which

would thus fall an easier prey to a strong force sent to attack them in

the rear. It is needless to write the record of that battle; sufficient

to say, that the genius of Grant and his generals, and the wonderful

heroism of their men, overcame all obstacles, carried the rebel

positions, and drove Bragg’s routed army into the Valley of the

Chickamauga, pursuing them beyond Red Clay Station, on the Dalton and

Cleveland Railroad, which line of communication was also most

effectually destroyed.

Then Sherman, as directed by General Grant, reinforced Burnside, and

raised the siege of Knoxville (December 4), forcing Longstreet to

retreat to Virginia, closely pursued by the Union cavalry. Four days

later, Grant received from President Lincoln the following despatch:—

“WASHINGTON, _December 8, 1863_.

“MAJOR-GENERAL GRANT,—Understanding that your lodgment at

Chattanooga and Knoxville is now secure, I wish to tender you, and

all under your command, my more than thanks, my profoundest

gratitude, for the skill, courage, and perseverance with which you

and they, over so great difficulties, have effected that important

object. God bless you all!

“A. LINCOLN.”

In addition to this, Congress, by joint resolution of December 17, 1863,

tendered to General Grant the national thanks, and provided for the

preparation and presentation to him of a gold medal, with suitable

emblems, devices, and inscriptions. Resolutions of thanks were also

passed by the legislatures of most of the loyal States; and the General

became the recipient of numerous, costly, and appropriate gifts from

various public bodies and private individuals. General Grant, meanwhile,

devoted himself assiduously to the repair and strengthening of his army

bases and lines of communication, the resting, equipment, and recruiting

of his brave soldiers, and the preparation of the details connected with

the coming campaign. He also set on foot an expedition, under command of

General Sherman, which should leave Vicksburg, and at Meridian, Miss.,

should be joined by a large cavalry force under General W. S. Smith, the

two then to traverse at will the central portions of Mississippi and

Alabama. This expedition, carefully planned, and admirably carried out

by Sherman, was shorn of its full measure of success by the failure of

the cavalry force to coöperate with him at Meridian, yet it greatly

crippled the rebels, and seriously interfered with their movements.

Congress having now revived the grade of _Lieutenant-General_, which had

been bestowed as an actual rank in time of war only on General

Washington (although given to General Scott, by brevet), the honor was

conferred by the President, with the approval of the Senate, upon

General Grant, on the 9th of March, 1864 (the commission bearing date of

March 2), and General Sherman succeeded to the command of the Military

Division of the Mississippi, while McPherson took Sherman’s place with

the army of the Tennessee, and General Halleck, hitherto

General-in-chief, was made Chief of Staff at Washington.

The new Lieutenant-General, who had in January, 1864, visited and

carefully inspected the Military Division of the Mississippi, now spent

a few weeks in a similar examination of the other western departments,

and in arranging with General Sherman the details of the coming spring

and summer campaign. Having done this, and made such arrangements as

should insure the simultaneous and coöperative movements of the Union

armies in the West and East, so as to prevent the reinforcement of one

rebel army by the other, as had frequently been the case during the

previous campaigns, he assumed the command in person of the Eastern

armies designed to assail Richmond. The forces with which he proposed to

reduce the Confederate capital consisted of the army of the Potomac,

under General Meade, and numbering nearly 130,000 men, besides

Sheridan’s splendid cavalry corps, and a reserve of nearly 40,000 men,

of which one third were colored troops; the army of the James, under

Major-General Butler, composed partly of the former army of Eastern

Virginia and North Carolina, and partly of Gilmore’s fine corps of

colored troops; and to these were soon after added the army of the

Shenandoah, composed of the army of Western Virginia, and a large

cavalry force, all under command of General Sigel. The great rebel army,

under General R. E. Lee, lay south of the Rapidan, with its left near

Gordonsville, and its right near Chancellorsville. Opposite to this, and

north of the Rapidan, was the army of the Potomac, extending from Brandy

Station to Robertson’s River, with its head-quarters at Culpepper

Court-house. Confronting the rebel hosts, as it had done for months

previous, it awaited the signal to strike the first blow in the final

struggle. To the army of the James was assigned the duty of seizing, by

a neat stratagem, the position of Bermuda Hundred, located on the right

or south side of the James, midway between Richmond and Petersburg; and

the interposition, if possible, of a sufficient force to cut the

communications between those two cities, and insure the capture of the

latter. The army of the Shenandoah was expected, by a movement on

Staunton, Lynchburg, and Waynesboro’, to cripple Lee, by cutting off his

supplies from the west, and also to protect Maryland and Pennsylvania

from any rebel movement through the Shenandoah Valley.

When all was ready, the army of the Potomac made its first move on the

morning of the 4th of May, 1864, crossed the Rapidan, with a view to

flank Lee’s right, then intrenched at Mine Run. Lee, however, was on his

guard, and the Union army, plunging almost immediately on crossing into

a large tract of dense and tangled forest near Chancellorsville, called

“The Wilderness,” found themselves attacked, before they could get into

position, by a heavy rebel force under Longstreet. The battle was

fierce, and lasted into the night, but without any decisive result. At

four o’clock on the following morning, the rebels renewed the assault,

with very heavy attacking columns, and the battle raged fiercely, until

about dark, they succeeded in completely flanking the Union right.

Grant, however, skillfully extended his left and centre, and brought his

right into a new position, by which maneuver his base was changed to

Fredericksburg and the Rappahannock. By this move he flanked Lee in

turn, and secured for himself a more open country, in which to use his

artillery. Lee fell back, and the Union advance overtook him May 7,

strongly posted at Spottsylvania Court-house. Sharp fighting ensued on

the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th, but with no decisive result. On the night

of the 11th, Grant transferred Hancock’s corps to the left, and at

half-past four o’clock of the following morning, it surprised the

enemy’s right with a terrible bayonet charge, which was a complete

victory, capturing 30 heavy guns, and over 4,000 prisoners, including

two generals. Other Union successes in other parts of the field, also

called out the most determined resistance from the rebels, who

endeavored, in vain, to recapture the positions they had lost. Lee’s

lines, on the 14th, were reformed, and moved further to the right, and

from the 12th to the 18th of May both armies rested, and were each

largely reinforced. On the 18th, General Hancock charged, and gained two

intrenchments on the rebel right; and Grant, during the three following

days, successfully accomplished another flanking movement to Milford

Bridge, _via_ Guiney’s Station. Lee, at the same time, took up a new and

strong position between the North and South Anna. Some hard fighting

which ensued, convinced General Grant that another flank movement was

the best course to be adopted, and directing the army to recross the

North Anna, under cover of an attack by his right wing, he burned the

Virginia Central Railroad Bridge, rapidly crossed the Pamunkey, and on

the 31st of May was within fifteen miles of Richmond. Here Lee was again

ready to meet him, and much desultory fighting ensued, but no general

engagement. On June 1, the 6th Corps approached Cold Harbor, and being

joined by a force from the army of the James, fought a stubborn battle

on the 3d, which gave them the full possession of that place. A

subsequent attack the same day, upon the rebel works, convinced Grant

that a direct attack would involve too great a loss of life, and between

the 12th and 15th June, he boldly recrossed the James in the face of the

enemy, although without his knowledge, and prepared to attack Richmond

from that side. General Butler, meanwhile, had seized and occupied

Bermuda Hundred; cut the railroad below Petersburg; made a bold, but

unsuccessful dash upon the city; had besieged Fort Darling, but was

unable to hold his position; had repulsed several rebel attacks upon his

own lines, and was now awaiting support from the approaching army of the

Potomac. Sigel had not been very fortunate in effecting his share of the

programme,—having been roughly handled by the rebels in the Shenandoah

Valley: he was relieved in command by General Hunter, who at first

defeated the rebels handsomely near Staunton; but was, in turn, obliged

to retreat by Early, and suffered terribly in a forced march into

Western Virginia. During the time occupied in these changes, Sheridan

had “raided” completely around Lee’s lines, penetrating within the first

line of Lee’s communications, destroying railroads and depots of

supplies, capturing rebels, and releasing many Union prisoners. The

rebel General Early, having rid himself of Sigel and Hunter, passed down

the Valley of the Shenandoah, crossed into Maryland, occupied Hagerstown

and Frederick, plundered and foraged, fought the militia, whom he

encountered, and threatened Baltimore and Washington, approaching to

within two miles of the latter city. Finding, however, most

unexpectedly, that veteran troops from New Orleans and the army of the

Potomac had arrived, and were now garrisoned there, and that General

Couch was approaching his rear from Pennsylvania, he decamped again into

Virginia, well laden with plunder.

Grant, upon reaching the south side of the James, ordered an attack upon

Petersburg, which failed of success in consequence of the want of proper

coöperation on the part of the cavalry. A series of attacks upon the

rebel works ensued, and the city was fairly invested by the 22d of June,

except on its northern and western side. On that day, also, the Union

troops, by dint of hard fighting, secured possession of the South Side

(Petersburg and Danville) Railroad, while Wilson’s and Kautz’s cavalry

attacked and destroyed a considerable section of the Weldon Railroad,

and a large amount of stores; but were surrounded by a large rebel force

before they could regain the Union lines, and lost seven or eight

hundred men. An interval of comparative quiet succeeded these movements,

during which an extensive mine was run under one of the enemy’s forts,

and in order to divert the attention of General Lee’s force, at the time

for its explosion General Grant ordered a feint to be made north of the

James, against their left. This attack, known as the action of

Strawberry Plains, was entirely successful; the rebel left was turned,

and four heavy guns were captured. On the 30th of July, the mine,

containing eight tons of powder, was exploded, and under cover of a

terrific cannonade along the whole length of the Union lines, an assault

was made upon Petersburg. Fatal delays and misunderstandings, at the

critical moment, gave the enemy time to recover somewhat from the

surprise of the explosions, and their courageous defense foiled the

Union attack, which resulted disastrously, especially to the colored

troops engaged in it. On the 12th of August, the 2d Corps fought the

battle of Deep Bottom, north of the James, with a loss to the rebels of

their position, 500 prisoners, 6 cannon and 2 mortars. On the 18th, the

Weldon Railroad, at Reams’ Station, was surprised, and occupied by the

5th Corps, which, in turn, was heavily attacked on the 19th by the rebel

troops, and fell back; but being reinforced by the 9th Corps, succeeded

in partly retrieving their position, but with a loss of nearly 4,000

men.

For five weeks following, although a little advance had gradually been

gained by the Union forces, no battle of importance ensued. On the night

of September 28, General Ord crossed to the north side of the James, and

on the following morning carried the rebel intrenchments at Chaffin’s

Farms, without serious loss, capturing 15 pieces of artillery and some

300 prisoners. Simultaneously, General Birney carried the intrenchments

on the Newmarket road, and the Union forces, having occupied Fort

Harrison, advanced to Laurel Hill. The Confederates next made a

desperate attempt to retake Fort Harrison, on the 30th, but were

repulsed. On the 1st of October, the Union cavalry reconnoitred to

within two miles of the Confederate capital; and on the 7th, the army of

the James repulsed a sharp attempt of the rebels to turn its right

flank, with a severe loss to the assailants. On the 29th, a

reconnoissance in force was made against the rebel position at Hatcher’s

Run, which resulted in a severe battle, with great loss to the Union

troops; who, however, held the position until withdrawn by General

Grant. The inefficiency of commanders, which up to this time had existed

in the Shenandoah Valley and Northern Virginia and Maryland, led in

August, 1864, to the organization of a new and larger department, known

as the Department of the Shenandoah, to the command of which, by General

Grant’s desire, General Philip H. Sheridan was assigned. The new

commander soon justified the confidence of his chief; on the 19th of

September, he defeated and routed Early’s army at Opequan Creek, taking

over 2000 prisoners, and a large number of guns; on the 22d, he routed

them again at Fisher’s Hill, and pursued them to Staunton; and on the

9th of October, he repulsed General Rosser again at Fisher’s Hill,

thrashing him soundly. On the 19th of the same month, while Sheridan was

absent at Washington, his army was attacked by Early, defeated and

driven back three miles, with the loss of twenty-four cannon; but

Sheridan, returning to the front met his routed men, rallied them, and

swept back with them over the field, whipping the rebels, sending them,

“man and horse,” “whirling through the Valley,” and capturing fifty-two

pieces of artillery, including all those which his men had lost in the

morning.

Sherman, also, had been “cutting a wide swath” in the enemy’s country. A

campaign of remarkable energy and hard fighting had given him the

possession of Atlanta, Georgia, on the 2d of September; then leaving

General Thomas to watch and manage the rebel Hood in Alabama, he had cut

loose from his base at Atlanta and marched through the heart of

rebeldom, 300 miles, to Savannah, which surrendered to him on the 22d of

December. Hood, meanwhile, led on by Thomas’ maneuvers of retreat, and

by his own rashness, fell into the trap prepared for him and which

“sprung” upon him at Franklin, on the 30th of November, in a battle

which cost him the loss of eighteen generals and nearly 7,000 troops.

Still persisting in an attempt to invest Nashville, he was attacked by

General Thomas, on the 15th of December, routed and driven in confusion

to the Tennessee River and out of the State. During the same month, an

expedition planned by General Grant, consisting of two divisions under

General Butler, and a naval force under Rear Admiral Porter, set sail

(December 15) against Fort Fisher, N. C. This was unsuccessful, and was

speedily followed by a second expedition, in which the command of the

land forces was given to General Terry. This proved a grand success,

capturing Fort Fisher, (January 15,) and effectually closing Wilmington

harbor, which had long been one of the chief channels of foreign

supplies to the Confederacy.

On the 6th of February, a movement upon Hatcher’s Run, ordered by

General Grant for the purpose of gaining position nearer to the Weldon

Railroad, resulted in a desperate struggle, in which (on the second day)

the Union lines were broken, but the next day the lost ground was

regained and held, and finally the lines were permanently advanced four

miles in advance of the original position. On the 25th of March, 1865,

the rebels suddenly massed a heavy force upon Fort Steadman, near

Petersburg, which they captured, but were almost immediately repulsed,

and a portion of their own lines held by the 6th and 2d Corps. Four days

later (29th) General Grant ordered an advance in order to occupy the

Southside Railroad, which was now Lee’s only line of supplies. Sending

Sheridan, who with his cavalry had just cut the rebel lines of

communication north of Richmond, to threaten the railroad near

Burkesville Junction, in order to attract Lee’s attention in that

direction, he moved the 2d and 5th Corps across Hatcher’s Run (by the

Vaughan and Halifax roads) to endeavor to seize the Boydton plank-road.

On the first day, all went well; the cavalry reached Dinwiddie; the 5th

Corps had a sharp but successful fight for the possession of the Quaker

road, and the 2d Corps encountered but little opposition. By the 30th of

March, the 5th and 2d Corps held the White Oak road and the Boydton

plank-road; but the next day, the 5th, in attempting to reach Five

Forks, on the White Oak road, found the enemy strongly intrenched, and

was driven back upon the 2d Corps. Rallying, and with the help of a

division of the 2d Corps, they regained their previous position by

nightfall, though only by very hard fighting. Meanwhile Sheridan’s

cavalry had been fiercely attacked by another rebel division, but the

gallant general dismounted his men, placed them behind temporary

breastworks, and repulsed the enemy until nightfall—both sides resting

on their arms during the night, within a short distance of each other.

Sheridan expected the reinforcement of Warren’s 5th Corps, which Grant

had notified him would report to him that night, and he dispatched a

note to Warren at 3 A. M., urging his speedy approach, on the enemy’s

rear, while he would attack them in front. Warren, however, did not

reply till morning, and did not succeed in reaching Dinwiddie; and

Sheridan, promptly at the time appointed, attacked the foe with his own

troops, driving them west of Chamberlain’s Creek. Meeting Warren, about

seven or eight o’clock, four or five miles north of Dinwiddie, he

directed him to press on the enemy when he should receive orders, and

himself invested Five Forks, on two sides, with his cavalry. A little

after noon he ordered Warren to attack on the east side, but Warren’s

movements seemed to him so reluctant and indifferent that, although the

attack proved a perfect success, Sheridan relieved the general from his

command, which was given to General Griffin. On the following day the

enemy were pushed still farther to the river road on the banks of the

Appomattox.

A fierce bombardment continued along the Union lines surrounding

Petersburg, and on the 2d of April, the 6th, 9th, and the Provisional

Corps, after a short but terrible struggle, seized and tore up the long

coveted Southside Railroad, capturing many prisoners and guns. Richmond

and Petersburg, being thus rendered untenable, were evacuated during the

same night, and occupied by Union troops on the morning of April 3,

1865. Pausing not for a moment, however, General Grant pressed on in the

hopes of capturing the defeated rebel general and his army. At Deep

Creek, Paine’s Cross-roads, Deatonsville, Farmville, High Bridge over

the Appomattox, and Appomattox Station, actions of greater or less

severity were fought with the rebel army, which now, thoroughly

demoralized, was strewing the road with deserted artillery, wagons, and

supplies, which were passed unnoticed and untouched by the Union troops

in the heat of their unremitting and exultant pursuit. At length, on the

7th, General Grant at Farmville, sent a note to Lee, requesting the

surrender of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Pressing on,

still in relentless pursuit, he was met at Appomattox Station, on the

morning of the 9th, by a note from General Lee asking for an interview

with a view to the surrender of his command. The same afternoon, at

Appomattox Court-house, he received the surrender of the rebel

chieftain, on terms which were liberal in the extreme. The war was now

virtually ended, and Grant, passing through Richmond, went to

Washington, and on the 14th took the cars for a visit to his family,

then in New Jersey, but was overtaken _en route_ by the terrible news of

the assassination of President Lincoln, and the tragic events caused by

a plot, of which it seems that he had been one of the marked victims.

Meanwhile, Sherman sweeping through the Carolinas, had flanked and

captured Charleston, S. C., as well as Columbia, Cheraw, Fayetteville,

and with the aid of Generals Terry and Schofield, had taken Goldsboro’,

Smithfield, and Raleigh, and held Johnston’s rebel army “pinned to the

wall.”

Stoneman’s cavalry from Thomas’ army, had also thoroughly broken the

Virginia and East Tennessee Railroad and the North Carolina road above

Salisbury, had released the Union prisoners confined there, captured a

large amount of stores, and effectually cut off Johnston’s retreat. From

south, west, and southwest came cheering news of victories won, all

tending to the completion of the great plan by which the power of

treason was to be destroyed.

At this juncture, the Cabinet at Washington received from General

Sherman a memorandum of a treaty between himself and General Johnston,

for the surrender of all the rebel armies in the field and the complete

cessation of hostilities. In the then excited state of public feeling,

the terms accorded by General Sherman to the rebel leaders, were deemed

too liberal; and at the request of the Government, General Grant

proceeded _incognito_ to Raleigh, conferred with Sherman, and ordered

the immediate resumption of hostilities. This brought Johnston to terms,

and, by General Grant’s orders, General Sherman received his surrender,

on the 26th of April, on the same terms as those accorded to General

Lee. The surrender of Dick Taylor to General Canby on the 4th of May,

1865, and shortly after, of Kirby Smith’s army west of the Mississippi,

completed the record of the War of the Rebellion.

General Grant returned to Washington, where on the 28th, he issued an

order reducing the expenses of the Military Department, and attended the

grand review of his victorious legions at Washington, preparatory to

their disbanding and return to their homes. Visiting his family at

Burlington, N. J., on the 2d of May, he was, on the 3d, welcomed by the

citizens of Philadelphia, who presented him with a costly and elegantly

furnished house in that city. A portion of the summer of 1865 was spent

by him in flying trips to the East and West and Canadas; and his passage

through the country was a series of brilliant receptions, orations, and

public and private demonstrations of respect, which proved the people

not unmindful of the distinguished services he had rendered to the

Republic. At Galena, the place of his residence when he entered the

service, the citizens met him with festive demonstrations of affection

and respect, and presented him with an elegant and well-furnished house

(costing $16,000), on a most beautiful elevation near the city, which he

and his family entered amidst the cheers of the excited crowd, and the

ringing of all the church-bells in the place. On the 10th of November,

he was complimented by the City of New York, with a magnificent banquet

and reception at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, rarely equalled even in that

demonstrative metropolis, and presented by the merchants and capitalists

of the city with one hundred thousand dollars, as a token of their

gratitude for his patriotic and successful labors in restoring union and

peace to the country.

The Thirty-Ninth Congress at its first session, resolved to create the

rank of _General_ of the army, which had hitherto been considered the

special perquisite and prerogative of the President, and Lieutenant

General Grant was promoted to this honor, which it was resolved by

Congress, when again vacant, should not be filled. His commission as

General bears date July 25, 1866, and on the same day, Major-General

Sherman was promoted to the vacant Lieutenant Generalship.

General Grant, by special order of President Johnson, accompanied him in

his tour in the summer of 1866, to Chicago and St. Louis; but during the

whole journey he neither by word or look manifested, as he doubtless did

not feel, any sympathy with Mr. Johnson’s “policy” of reconstruction. In

the correspondence relative to the New Orleans massacre, he manifested

his abhorrence of the act, though he knew that it had received the

quasi-sanction of the President. With his habitual reticence, he

refrained from any interference with, or expression of opinion upon,

political questions; and though urged as a candidate for the Presidency

at first by conservative Republicans and some Democrats, he manifested

no interest in the movement, and the most skillful pumping failed to

elicit from him any expression of opinion which the politicians could

make available. His duties as General of the army were performed

quietly, promptly, and satisfactorily, and the hospitalities of his

house in Washington were freely tendered to men of all parties and of

none.

The time came, however, when this reticence could no longer be

maintained. The President, who had long been cherishing hostility toward

the Secretary of War, Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, early in August, 1867,

requested him to resign; Mr. Stanton refused to do so, on the plea that

he was compelled to retain office from his view of what were the

exigencies of the public service, and President Johnson immediately

suspended him from office, and appointed General Grant Secretary, _ad

interim_, on the 12th of August, 1867.

Mr. Stanton surrendered the office to General Grant under protest,

though it was well understood, without any hostile feeling toward him

personally. General Grant managed the affairs of the Department wisely

and well, reducing expenses, and infusing a somewhat greater zeal and

activity into the public service. On the reassembling of Congress in

November, 1867, a demand was made by the Senate upon the President for

an account of the circumstances attending the suspension of Secretary

Stanton, and having received them, after a very full discussion, they

decided them insufficient, and that Secretary Stanton must be

reinstated. On the passage of this resolution by the Senate, General

Grant promptly relinquished his position to Mr. Stanton, having notified

the President that he should do so. The President, greatly enraged at

having his purpose foiled, of putting a man into the place who would

sympathize with him, commenced an angry correspondence with the General,

and attempted to fasten upon him the charges of treachery and want of

veracity, claiming that he had promised to give him due notice of his

intention to surrender the office, that he might put some one else in

his place, or to hold the position himself when Stanton should demand

it. General Grant replied with a frank and soldier-like statement of the

facts, to which the President rejoined somewhat abusively, and adduced

letters from members of his Cabinet for the purpose of sustaining his

statements. Some of these letters failed most signally to accomplish the

object for which they were intended, while others were evidently a mere

compliance with the President’s request that they should sustain his

statements. General Grant replied again, more briefly than before, but

clearing himself handsomely from the charge of insubordination, which

the President had sought to fix upon him. There was probably some

misunderstanding of General Grant’s language on the part of the

President in the first place, as the General, before examining the

subject, had expressed the opinion to the President that Secretary

Stanton would have to apply to the courts to be reinstated, but had

subsequently, on careful examination, changed his opinion, and so

informed the President. As the result of his refusing to surrender the

office would have been a fine of ten thousand dollars and five years’

imprisonment, there is no probability that he made the promise to retain

the position, notwithstanding the President’s very liberal but totally

impracticable offer, to take the punishment upon himself. With the views

he entertained, when he discovered the President’s purpose of putting a

man into the office who would carry out his views of reconstruction, it

is equally incredible that he should have promised to give the President

the opportunity of accomplishing his purpose and thwarting the

congressional plan of reconstruction, the success of which he had much

at heart. Aside from this, the issue in a question of veracity between

Ulysses S. Grant and Andrew Johnson could not fail to be decided in

favor of the former, whose sturdy truthfulness has been as conspicuous

as Johnson’s shuffling self-contradiction, and general unveracity.

General Grant is now by common consent the candidate of the Republican

party for the Presidency, and seems to have the prospect of an election

almost by acclamation.

In person he is short, about five feet eight (the height if we recollect

aright of the “Little Corporal,” and like him somewhat inclined to

stoutness). He has a clear, well-balanced brain, with no faculty in

excess and none deficient. He is not a genius, but a man of fair

talents, with a thorough insight into character, and a remarkable

faculty of always putting “the right man in the right place.” Despite

the reports of his being addicted to intoxication, we have the highest

authority for saying, that he is not only not a drunkard, but a man of

remarkable temperance, abstaining from the use even of wine, when most

men would consider themselves bound in courtesy to drink it. He does

smoke excessively, being seldom seen without a cigar in his mouth, but

his smoking is quiet and not spiteful, like that of General Sherman. He

is a skillful billiard-player, and retains his old fondness for horses.

He is one of the best equestrians in the country, and, like Phil.

Sheridan, appears to extraordinary advantage in the saddle.

For the rest, he is not ambitious; is reticent in the extreme on all

political questions, but evidently not from ignorance of them. He

possesses great vitality, and a pertinacity and perseverance in

completing what he undertakes, which on the right side (and he will be

generally found there) is invaluable. His seven years of command have

been a valuable discipline to him, and his views have been widened and

deepened thereby. He is thoroughly honest, and will be as careful of the

people’s money as of his own; yet his views of economy are not of the

scrimping, miserly sort. He only desires that money shall be rightly,

judiciously, and prudently expended, and not squandered for the benefit

of office-holders. While we do not regard him as the greatest of men, we

believe if his life is spared he will make one of the best of

Presidents.

GEN. GRANT’S LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE.

_To Gen._ JOSEPH R. HAWLEY, _President National Union Republican

Convention_:

In formally accepting the nomination of the National Union

Republican Convention of the 21st of May inst. it seems proper that

some statement of views beyond the mere acceptance of the nomination

should be expressed. The proceedings of the Convention were marked

with wisdom, moderation, and patriotism, and I believe express the

feelings of the great mass of those who sustained the country

through its recent trials. I endorse the resolutions. If elected to

the office of President of the United States, it will be my endeavor

to administer all the laws in good faith, with economy, and with the

view of giving peace, quiet, and protection everywhere. In times

like the present it is impossible, or at least eminently improper,

to lay down a policy to be adhered to, right or wrong, through an

administration of four years. New political issues, not foreseen,

are constantly arising; the views of the public on old ones are

constantly changing, and a purely administrative officer should

always be left free to execute the will of the people. I always have

respected that will, and always shall. Peace and universal

prosperity—its sequence—with economy of administration will lighten

the burden of taxation, while it constantly reduces the National

debt. Let us have peace. With great respect, your obedient servant,

U. S. GRANT.

[Illustration: Schuyler Colfax]

HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX.

The universal popularity of Mr. Colfax, and the thorough confidence felt

by all classes in his integrity, intellectual ability and capacity to

fill the highest position in the gift of the nation, should he be called

to it, are among the most remarkable circumstances of his life-history.

He is not a military hero. His fame, wide-spread as it is, was not won

on the tented field, nor in the fierce strife and din of battle. His

triumphs have been of a more peaceful character.

Though of a good and honorable lineage, he owes nothing to the accident

of birth or hereditary fortune, and though a man of cultivated intellect

and extensive general knowledge, he has not the eclat of honors won in

college or university to make him conspicuous.

Still less is his fame dependent on exalted political station, long and

ably held. He has been indeed a representative of the people in

Congress, and for five years past Speaker of the House of

Representatives, and his abilities have been fairly and fully proved in

both capacities, but other men have presided over the House of

Representatives, and been for years members of that body, or of the

Senate, and yet no one has thought of them for the Vice-Presidency, or

the Presidency.

Whence then comes this universal esteem in which this man is held; this

almost brotherly attachment which leads all who know him personally, and

tens of thousands who do not, to speak of him, not as _Mr._ Colfax, but

as Schuyler Colfax, just as men used to say Abraham, or “Abe” Lincoln,

and not coldly, _Mr._ Lincoln?

We propose to answer this question by a brief sketch of his life, which

will we think, give us the best key to this personal magnetism which

draws all men to him.

In 1822, there lived in North Moore Street, then a quiet, home-like

street running westward from West Broadway, New York, a young couple by

the name of Colfax. The husband, named like his illustrious son,

Schuyler Colfax, was a bank clerk. The child-wife, for she was then but

little more than fifteen years of age, looked up confidingly and

tenderly to the brave, noble-hearted young man on whom she had bestowed

her heart’s affections, and both anticipated a long and joyous future.

But ere the new year of 1823 dawned, that young husband was taken from

life, and the girl-wife was a widow.

In the early spring, (on the 23d of March, 1823), a son, destined to

cheer and comfort her in her subsequent earthly pilgrimage was given

her, and though poor and widowed, the young mother felt that she was not

alone. The boy grew up, a slender, delicate, bright, loving boy,

flaxen-haired, and seemingly too frail to struggle with the rough world

with which he was brought in contact; but though poverty pressed hard

upon mother and child, they were all in all to each other. The boy

attended the school of the Public School Society, for in those days,

Ward Schools were undreamed of, till he had reached his tenth year, and

made good proficiency, being always, as one of his schoolmates

testifies, at the head of his class. When he was ten years old his

mother married again, and this time a merchant by the name of Matthews,

who was very fond of Schuyler, and in whose store he became thus early,

a younger clerk. In 1836, the fever for emigration, then so prevalent,

seized the Matthews family, and they removed to what is now the garden

of the west, the valley of the St. Joseph’s river, in Indiana. It was

then, much of it, an unbroken wilderness, though South Bend and two or

three other villages were beginning to attract emigrants. In one of

these villages, New Carlisle, the family made their new home, and Mr.

Matthews engaged in trade. Schuyler Colfax was for four years more his

clerk. In 1840, Mr. Matthews was chosen Auditor of St. Joseph’s County,

and for convenience in his official duties, removed to South Bend, the

county seat, which has ever since been the home of the family. Mr.

Matthews made his step-son deputy auditor, and the boy, who had

diligently improved every leisure moment in study, now a tall,

flaxen-haired youth, soon became so thoroughly familiar with the law in

all questions relating to the auditor’s duties, that he was ere long the

standard authority for the region about, on these subjects. But his

reading of law at this time was not confined to that required for

exercising an auditor’s duties; he found time to make himself master of

its great principles, rather however for the sake of the general culture

it would afford him, than with the view of adopting it as a profession.

During this period too he was practicing himself in that facility for

putting his thoughts on paper which was afterwards of so much advantage

to him. A gentleman, well known in the philanthropic circles of New York

and Brooklyn, who had been a schoolmate of Mr. Colfax in that Crosby

Street School, which was the last one he attended in New York city, kept

up a correspondence with him during these years of his service as deputy

auditor, and says:

“Schuyler’s letters in those days were very interesting; they were

filled with details concerning his studies, knotty questions which he

wanted me to aid him in clearing up, and brilliant thoughts, often

expressed with the same felicity which now marks his writings.”

To such a youth, writing for the newspapers was almost a necessity.

There had been a paper in South Bend edited for some years by John D.

Defrees, since then a Member of Congress and Government printer. To its

columns Schuyler contributed often, and he was but little more than

twenty-one years of age, when he became editor and proprietor of the

_St. Joseph’s Valley Register_, his friend Defrees having removed to

Indianapolis to take charge of the _State Journal_. Previous to this,

however, he and Mr. Defrees, with some other enterprising young men of

South Bend, had organized a debating society, and by a happy thought had

modeled it after the House of Representatives, whose rules they adopted

for their governance. Mr. Defrees was for the time the “Speaker” of this

Village House of Representatives, and Colfax, yet a youth under age, was

“the gentleman from Newton.” Parliamentary rules were insisted upon, and

the pages of Jefferson’s and Cushing’s Manuals were carefully and

thoroughly conned, till “the gentleman from Newton” became as conversant

with the rules and usage of “the House,” as any presiding officer in our

State legislatures. This, and the habit of off hand debate, were of

great advantage to him in after years, and contributed much to make him,

as he is acknowledged to be, by all parties, the best presiding officer

the House of Representatives has had for many years.

He entered upon the work of editing and managing the _St. Joseph’s

Valley Register_ with but two hundred and fifty subscribers. It was a

small sheet, and for some years, it required all his exertions, often

protracted far into the night, to make it pay. He had not been bred a

printer, but in these years he learned enough of the art to be able to

render material service in setting up the paper. His friend Defrees, who

knew his abilities, secured his services for two successive sessions of

the legislature as Senate Reporter for the _State Journal_, and this

helped him to relieve himself of the burden of debt, which for a time

threatened to crush him.

From the first, he made the _Register_ a good paper. He was a Whig and

his sympathies were with his party, and he ably defended its principles;

but though often attacked personally and with scurrilous abuse by the

Democratic papers of that section, he never allowed a discourteous or

abusive word in his paper. He was too thoroughly a gentleman in word and

thought and nature to stoop to scurrility, and his opponents soon found

that they injured themselves in their efforts to injure him.

In South Bend every body liked him and believed in him; the magnetism of

his genial face, his kindly nature, and his cordial hand-grasp won all

hearts. He was, the villagers said, a remarkable man, especially for a

newspaper editor; he paid his debts; he drank no whiskey; he was prudent

and economical; he never uttered an oath; and though it was only by

careful management that he avoided debt, he always seemed to have

something to give to the poor.

He was, during this period, steadily gaining reputation as a political

writer and speaker. In 1848, he was chosen as a delegate to the

convention which nominated General Taylor for the Presidency, and on

taking his seat in the convention, was elected its principal secretary.

In 1850, he represented St. Joseph’s County in the convention which

formed the present constitution of Indiana. In that convention he

opposed with all his ability, the adoption of the clause preventing free

colored men from settling in the State. The next year he was nominated

by his district for Congress, and had for a competitor Dr. Graham N.

Fitch, an old, wily, and experienced Democratic politician, subsequently

the colleague of Jesse D. Bright, as Senator, and in a district which

for years had been Democratic by some thousands majority. Dr. Fitch used

his opposition to the black laws, mercilessly, against him, but defeated

him by only two hundred and thirty-eight votes.

In 1852, Mr. Colfax was again a delegate to and secretary of the

National Convention which nominated General Scott for the Presidency. In

the spring of 1858, he was urged to accept another nomination for

Congress, but declined, and Dr. Fitch was re-elected by a majority of

more than a thousand votes.

It was the era of the Kansas-Nebraska swindle, and though the district

which he represented was strongly opposed to this measure, and his

constituents used all their influence to dissuade him from supporting

it, yet Dr. Fitch was so mole-eyed, and so wedded to slavery, that he

advocated and voted for it steadily.

This was too much for the good people of St. Joseph county; a majority

of them had voted the Democratic ticket regularly, but they were

determined to do so no longer. The young editor of the _St. Joseph’s

Valley Register_ was urged to accept the nomination for Congress, and

was elected in 1854, a representative in the XXXIVth Congress, by

seventeen hundred and sixty-six majority. This result was due in part to

the great reaction, but it was aided by the efforts of Mr. Colfax, who

took the stump, and discussed with his competitor, through the district,

the political questions of the canvass with such ability and spirit as

to carry all hearts with him.

He entered Congress at the time of the protracted struggle in regard to

the election of a Speaker, which terminated in the choice of Nathaniel

P. Banks, and he gallantly plunged into the contest. His maiden speech

took the whole House by surprise. It not only demonstrated that he was

even then one of the ablest debaters in the House, but its eloquence,

its logical power, and its graphic portrayal of the real condition of

Kansas, and of the iniquity of the Border-Ruffian movement, made it the

most effective campaign document of the season, and of the Presidential

conflict of that year. Over five hundred thousand copies of that speech

were printed and circulated by the National Committee—a compliment we

believe never before paid to any member of Congress, certainly not to

the maiden speech of one of the youngest members of the House.

Into the Presidential contest of 1856, the first of the Republican

party, Mr. Colfax entered with all his zeal and enthusiasm. The banner

of Fremont and Dayton was borne aloft in his paper, and his eloquent

appeals in its behalf rang through all the States of the West. Victory

was perhaps hardly to be expected for a new party at its first trial,

but never was a fight more gallantly conducted.

The people of northern Indiana knew and honored the talents and worth of

their Representative. By that personal magnetism which he possesses, in

larger measure than most men, he had drawn all hearts to him, and they

have kept him in Congress from 1855 to the present time, and always by

large majorities. In 1860 he received thirty-four hundred more votes

than his competitor, and in 1866 nearly twenty-two hundred more.

His great power as a debater, his strong, clear common sense, quick

intuition, and devotion to the best interests of his country, made him a

very valuable member of the House of Representatives, and he was early

placed on important committees. As chairman of the Committee on Post

Offices and Post Roads, he was very efficient in promoting mail

facilities with our new territories and the Pacific states, and on other

important committees he accomplished a vast amount of labor. He was

deeply interested, and is still, in the prosperity of the Pacific

Railroad, regarding it as a most important measure not only for the

prosperity of the nation, but as a means of bringing together the

distant sections of our Great Republic.

Into the Presidential Campaign of 1860, Mr. Colfax plunged with all his

energy. Mr. Lincoln had been from the first his favorite as a candidate,

and he had foreshadowed his nomination, months before it was made, in

his paper. There were many points of resemblance in the character of the

two men, and Colfax’s heart warmed toward him as toward a brother.

Hardly any man in the United States did so much to secure the election

of Mr. Lincoln as this western editor, and this from pure love, and not

from any hope or desire of reward. Mr. Colfax could have had, if he had

sought it, a place in Mr. Lincoln’s cabinet, as he always had, (a very

warm one,) in his heart; but he preferred to remain in Congress, and

during the whole period of the war, he was a bosom friend and a trusted

adviser of the President. In his sound sense, his practical view of

matters, and his freedom from hobbies, Mr. Lincoln could confide, with

the assurance that his counsels would never lead him astray.

Hopeful, even in the darkest hours, and ready to cheer and encourage the

drooping spirits of those whose duller vision could not pierce the

cloud-wrack, and see the clear heavens beyond, his presence and

influence were invaluable in the murky and treason-tainted atmosphere of

the Capitol.

On the assembling of the XXXVIIIth Congress in its first session, he was

chosen Speaker of the House and has been re-elected to the same position

twice since, an honor to which no other Representative except Henry Clay

has ever attained. At the close of his present term as Speaker, he will

probably take his seat as presiding officer at the other end of the

Capitol.

It is the testimony of members of all parties, that he is the best

presiding officer the House has had since Henry Clay, and in some

particulars he excels Mr. Clay. He is always genial and courteous, never

betrayed into impatience or vexation, and his marvelous quickness of

thought, thorough knowledge of parliamentary usage, and talent for the

rapid administration of details, and above all his extraordinary tact,

enable him to control the House of Representatives, even in its most

boisterous moods, with the skill and grace with which an accomplished

pilot would manage the helm of one of our palace steamers on the Hudson.

He is never at a loss in deciding a question of order, however delicate

or difficult, and the whole array of precedents are at his command. Very

seldom indeed are his decisions overruled, and in the rare cases in

which they have been, the House have generally found that they and not

he, were in the wrong.

It has been said that his talents were administrative and executive

rather than deliberative. While this is in itself high praise, we are

inclined to doubt its entire truth. He does possess great executive

ability, and inherits from his mother that faculty of rapid intuition,

which has very properly been denominated “mother wit;” but he has also

given indications of the possession of high reasoning and deliberative

faculties, and both his editorials and speeches give evidence of fine

logical as well as rhetorical power.

He possesses, in a remarkable degree, the power of reading character,

and when called upon to select men for special duties he will not make

mistakes. While a Radical in his political views he is still cautious,

and will adopt sure and safe policies. His mind is well balanced, no

undue predominance of any faculty being observable, but all uniting in

such proportions as to make a sound, healthy-minded, judicious man; one

who will not be a seer far in advance of his age, nor a conservative

lagging in the rear of it, but an able leader, to whose position the

whole host of patriots will rally, and whose views will meet with a

hearty response from all lovers of their country.

He is a courteous man, not proudly or haughtily so, but genial and

gentle from the necessities of his nature. The gentleman in his case, as

in all others, is not, of necessity, he who is gentle-born, but he who

possesses a truly gentle nature. Mr. Colfax never forgets, he remembers

rather with peculiar tenacity, the humble circumstances of his early

years, and honors with peculiar love those sons of toil, who like

himself have by diligent struggle and earnest endeavor wrought their way

up to a higher and more extended sphere of action.

A very pleasant illustration of this is contained in a speech which he

delivered at a dinner given him by the representatives of the press in

December 1866 at which the presiding officer, Samuel Wilkeson, Esq., had

alluded to his passing his office at midnight, eighteen years before,

while waiting for the change of horses in the stage, and having seen him

busily at work. Mr. Colfax replied as follows:—

“I have had to listen to-night to a eulogy from your distinguished

chairman, of which I can only wish I was worthy. What he has said has

called back to my mind, what is often before it, the years of my early

manhood—and I see a friend seated at this table (Mr. Defrees) who knows

much of it about as well as myself—when, struggling against poverty and

adverse fortune sometimes, I sought in the profession to which you have

devoted yourselves, to earn an honest livelihood for myself and family,

and a position, humble, but not dishonored, among the newspaper men of

America. I cannot remember the exact evening to which he alludes, when,

eighteen years ago, a stranger then, as I am glad he is not now, he saw

me through a window in my office, with the midnight lamp before me, and

heard the commentary on my life from the lips of some too partial friend

from among those who from my boyhood have surrounded me with so much

kindness and attention. But well do I remember, in the early history of

the newspaper that numbered but two hundred and fifty subscribers when I

established it, I was often compelled to labor far into the hours of

night. And little did I dream, at that time, I was ever to be a member

of the American Congress; and far less that I was to be the recipient of

the honor whose conferment you commemorate and endorse to-night. I can

say of that paper that its columns, from its very first number, will

bear testimony to-day that in all the political canvasses in which I was

engaged, I never avoided a frank and outspoken expression of opinion on

any question before the American people. And that, as these opinions had

always been honestly entertained, I could not have hesitated to frankly

and manfully avow them. Though the effect of these avowals was, from the

political complexion of the district and the State, to keep me in a

minority, the people among whom I live will bear testimony that I was no

less faithful to them then than I have been when, in later years, that

minority has by the course of events been changed into a majority.”

In the course of this speech he uttered the following noble thoughts in

regard to the vocation of the Editor, a vocation which he continued to

honor by his own participation in it, until his assumption of the

speaker’s chair. Were these views more prevalent, journalism would be a

far greater blessing to the nation and the world than it now is.

“Next to the sacred desk, and those who minister in it, there is no

profession more responsible than yours. The editor cannot wait, like the

politician, to see the set of the tide, but is required, as new

necessities arise, not only to avow at once his sentiments upon them,

but to discuss them intelligently and instructively. It is also his duty

to guide and protect public opinion in the proper channels, and to lay

before the readers of his sheet such matter as shall tend to the

elevation of their character. I have sometimes thought that newspapers

in their sphere might be compared to that exquisite mechanism of the

universe whereby the moisture is lifted from the earth, condensed into

clouds, and poured back again in refreshing and fertilizing showers to

bless the husbandman and produce the abundant harvests. So, with the

representatives of the press, they draw from public opinion, condense

public opinion, and finally reflect and re-distribute it back again in

turn to its elevation and purification.”

No man ever yet had occasion to complain of want of courtesy, or

_brusqueness_ in Mr. Colfax’s treatment of him. His kindness of manner

comes evidently from the heart, and men leave his presence with the

impression that he is at once an able, honest and kind man. Political

opponents like him personally, as well as his political friends, and

even the bitterest of copperheads will tell you that “after all,

Schuyler Colfax is a good fellow.” Personal enemies he has none, and the

only condemnation to which he is liable, is that of the woe pronounced

on those of whom all men speak well.

The breath of slander has never sullied his fair fame. The wife of his

youth, after being for a long time an invalid, sank to her final rest

several years ago, leaving him childless. At his receptions, which

though perhaps not the most brilliant, are certainly the most popular in

Washington, his mother, a still comely matron of but little more than

sixty years, and his sister, Miss Matthews, preside. Nothing can exceed

in chivalrous gallantry his attentions to his mother, who has been his

cherished companion from his childhood. When she enters the gallery of

the House, Mr. Colfax at once calls some member of the House to the

speaker’s chair, and hastens to her, remaining, if possible, with her

during the whole time she continues at the Hall of Representatives.

Eminently social and genial in his manners, Mr. Colfax has never fallen

into the vices which have so sadly marred the character of some of the

noblest of our public men. Early in life he signed the pledge of total

abstinence from all that could intoxicate, and that pledge he has never

broken. At the National Republican Convention at Chicago in May 1868, at

which he was nominated for the Vice-Presidency, the canvass for him was

conducted by his special command without a drop of any intoxicating

liquor. At the head-quarters of some of the other candidates, strong

drink flowed freely, but he preferred to lose the nomination if

necessary, rather than to violate his temperance principles.

Mr. Colfax is a religious man, an exemplary member of the Reformed

(Dutch) Church, and in all the relations of life, public and private, he

has maintained an active and reputable Christian profession. The

Sunday-school, the Tract, the Mission and the Bible cause have all found

in him an earnest and cordial supporter. During the war, both the

Sanitary and the Christian Commissions were indebted to him for abundant

labors and the exertion of his powerful influence.

In the summer of 1866, in company with several friends, Mr. Colfax

crossed the continent by the overland route, and received a hearty and

cordial welcome in the Pacific States and Territories, and increased his

already deep interest in the means of speedy and rapid communication

with those portions of the Republic. One of the results of this journey

was a lecture entitled “Across the Continent,” which he has delivered to

many thousands of our people all over the Northern States, and almost

always for the benefit of some benevolent enterprise. He has also

published another lecture, on “The Education of the Heart,” which has

been widely circulated.

To sum up our estimate of his character, we have only to say further,

that the nation believes in him, trusts him, and is willing to confide

its interests to him, confident that if either in the speedy or remote

future he should be called to the Presidency, he will not disappoint the

hopes of those who should elect him, or prove treacherous to the

convictions he had previously avowed. He can not and will not under any

temptation be other than a true, honest, upright, God-fearing, manly

man. Have we not, then, answered the inquiry we made at the beginning,

why Schuyler Colfax is so popular?

SPEAKER COLFAX’S LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE.

_Hon._ J. R. HAWLEY, _President of the National Union Republican

Convention._

DEAR SIR: The platform adopted by the patriotic Convention over

which you presided, and the resolutions which so happily supplement

it, so entirely agree with my views as to a just national policy

that my thanks are due to the Delegates as much for this clear and

auspicious declaration of principles as for the nomination with

which I have been honored, and which I gratefully accept. When a

great Rebellion, which imperiled the national existence was at last

overthrown, the duty of all others, devolving on those intrusted

with the responsibilities of legislation, evidently was to require

that the revolted States should be readmitted to participation in

the Government against which they had erred only on such a basis as

to increase and fortify, not to weaken or endanger, the strength and

power of the nation. Certainly no one ought to have claimed that

they should be readmitted under such rule that their organization as

States could ever again be used, as at the opening of the war, to

defy the national authority or to destroy the national unity. This

principle has been the pole-star of those who have inflexibly

insisted on the Congressional policy your Convention so cordially

endorsed. Baffled by Executive opposition, and by persistent

refusals to accept any plan of reconstruction proffered by Congress,

justice and public safety at last combined to teach us that only by

an enlargement of suffrage in those States could the desired end be

attained, and that it was even more safe to give the ballot to those

who loved the Union than to those who sought ineffectually to

destroy it. The assured success of this legislation is being written

on the adamant of history, and will be our triumphant vindication.

More clearly, too, than ever before, does the nation now recognize

that the greatest glory of a republic is that it throws the shield

of its protection over the humblest and weakest of its people, and

vindicates the rights of the poor and the powerless as faithfully as

those of the rich and the powerful. I rejoice, too, in this

connection, to find in your platform the frank and fearless avowal

that naturalized citizens must be protected abroad at every hazard,

as though they were native-born. Our whole people are foreigners, or

descendants of foreigners; our fathers established by arms their

right to be called a nation. It remains for us to establish the

right to welcome to our shores all who are willing, by oaths of

allegiance, to become American citizens. Perpetual allegiance, as

claimed abroad, is only another name for perpetual bondage, and

would make all slaves to the soil where first they saw the light.

Our National cemeteries prove how faithfully these oaths of fidelity

to their adopted land have been sealed in the life blood of

thousands upon thousands. Should we not, then, be faithless to the

dead if we did not protect their living brethren in the full

enjoyment of that nationality for which, side by side, with the

native-born, our soldiers of foreign birth laid down their lives. It

was fitting, too, that the representatives of a party which had

proved so true to national duty in time of war, should speak so

clearly in time of peace for the maintenance, untarnished, of the

national honor, national credit and good faith as regards its debt,

the cost of our national existence. I do not need to extend this

reply by further comment on a platform which has elicited such

hearty approval throughout the land. The debt of gratitude it

acknowledges to the brave men who saved the Union from destruction,

the frank approval of amnesty based on repentance and loyalty, the

demand for the most thorough economy and honesty in the Government,

the sympathy of the party of liberty with all throughout the world

who longed for the liberty we here enjoy, and the recognition of the

sublime principles of the Declaration of Independence, are worthy of

the organization on whose banners they are to be written in the

coming contest. Its past record cannot be blotted out or forgotten.

If there had been no Republican party, Slavery would to-day cast its

baleful shadow over the republic. If there had been no Republican

party free press and free speech would be as unknown from the

Potomac to the Rio Grande as ten years ago. If the Republican party

could have been stricken from existence when the banner of Rebellion

was unfurled, and when the response of “No Coercion” was heard at

the North, we would have had no nation to-day. But for the

Republican party daring to risk the odium of tax, and draft laws,

our flag could not have been kept flying in the field until the

long-hoped for victory came. Without a Republican party the Civil

Rights bill—the guarantee of equality under the law to the humble

and the defenseless as well as the strong—would not be to-day upon

our National Statute book. With such inspiration from the past, and

following the example of the founders of the Republic, who called

the victorious General of the Revolution to preside over the land

his triumphs had saved from its enemies, I cannot doubt that our

labors will be crowned with success; and it will be a success that

shall bring restored hope, confidence, prosperity, and progress

South as well as North, West as well as East, and above all, the

blessings under Providence of National concord and peace.

Very truly yours,

SCHUYLER COLFAX.

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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

1. Changed “CHAPTER LXXXV.” to “CHAPTER LXXXV.—SOCIAL CONDITION.” on p.

xv

2. Changed “proportion vicious” to “proportion of vicious” on p. 338.

3. Changed “chevaux-de-frize” to “chevaux-de-frise” on p. 200.

4. Silently corrected typographical errors.

5. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.

6. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.