25
ULYSSES 5 . GRANT
ADDRESS BY HON. LOU IS Aw
’
éZOQL IDGEBE'ORE THE M'
IDDLESE' CLU B,BOSTON
AP R I L 27,1 9 17
P RINTED BY THE CLU B
ULYSSES S . GRANT
ADDRESS BY HON . LOU IS A. COOLIDGE BE'ORE THE
M IDDLESE' CLUB,BOSTON ,
APR IL 27 , 1917 .
'ust w hat the qual i t ies may be which give men rank wi th the
immortal s i s l ike ly to remain a mystery el u sive as immortal i ty
i tsel f . Some w ho have rendered nob le service to human ity mean
hardly more to u s than numbers i n a catalogue,whil e others of no
greater seem ing merit are c lad i n an imperishabl e glow . Among
men grouped as equals i n their day,one may become endowed in
retrospect wi th flaming att r ibutes not seen by those who knew
him in the flesh,wh il e al l th e rest soon Shed such fl ickering glory
as they had . The reason why,we do not understand . We can
not guess how myths originate or heroes grow .
Why Lincol n,w ho by most of h is cont emporaries was not
thought to be cast i n an heroic mould,Shou ld i n a l i t t l e whil e have
towered so far above them al l a s to be classed among the w orl d ’s
divinit ies,woul d wi thout doubt have puzzl ed h im as it has puzzl ed
some of us w ho venerate h is name .
And SO w i th Grant,w ho never though t to
'
c lothe h imsel f i n
fame yet w ho i n Spit e of his ow n modesty l ooms ever tal l er i n the
eye of t ime . Around h i s name no myst ic l egends cl uster ; h i s
memory exhal es no subt le charm upon h i s brow no hal o l ies ex
cept the hal o of hard fought success ; an unpre tending man who
played a chief part in the worl d ’s affairs,wi th the whole worl d
looking on, yet so i nd i fferen t to praise or blame as to be qui te um
conscious Of i t s s tare .
No man w ho ever gained renown was ever more the sport of
chance . NO character i n h istory has ach ieved supreme success in
war or the supreme reward of pol it ic s w ho owed l ess to hi s own
ambit ion or design . A s t il l and simple c it izen,accustomed most ly
to the ways of unkempt Western towns,ungifted with imaginat ion ,
i ndi fferent to the general s t i r of th ings,and barely equal to the
task of furn ish ing h is fam ily such modest comfort s as the neigh
bors had,he was untouched even by evanescen t l iki ng for a mil i
tary l i fe up to the momen t when he flashed across the v i sion of
the wor l d —the grea test captai n of hi s t ime .
And when wi th war in retrospect he woul d have been
con ten t to l ive in quiet con templat ion of h is st range career , un
ski l l ed ih pol i t ics,untu tored in the art of government
,he was com
pelled by force of ci rcumstance for eigh t eventfu l years to occupy
the highest c ivi l pl ace his countrymen coul d give . He was the
chil d of splendid Opport un it ies whi ch came to h im unsough t , for
wh ich he never seemed to care,and which he met wi th calm as
surance of . his ow n capac i ty . He - rode upon the t urmoi l wh ich
had tossed him to i t s top serenely confident i n h is abil ity to guide
gigant ic forces th rus t i n to h is hands . He saw hi s country reuni ted ,wel l advanced upon a c learly marked and broaden ing road ; then
wil l i ngly wen t back to private l ife,r ich only in the opul ence Of
fame,unspoil ed
,unfre t ted by regrets
,and undisturbed by dreams .
That th i s Shy,S i l en t man
,af ter a humdrum l ife t i l l m iddl e
age,Shoul d have behel d the Span of his remain ing years st udded
with triumphs and wi th t ragedies o ffers a riddl e to the studen t of
h is t ime . H is m ind was no t attuned to not ion s of ret reat , of in
d irec t ion,or diplomacy . He thought s traightforward and w as free
from art i fi ce— rare qual i t ies which stood h im wel l i n war and inmost great execu t ive emergencies
,but were i l l fi t ted to the sin u
ous ways of peace , the strategy of pol i t ics , the mysteries of high
( 4 )
fi nance,the subt le schemes of court iers and d i shonest satel l i tes .
And so i t i s that both as Presiden t and as private c it izen the
record of h i s t ruly great ach ievement s i s soil ed with pages we
would tear out i f we coul d . Yet we Shoul d hate to l o’se the l ast
heroic chapter,even though a sordid prel ude i s ind ispen sabl e to
the compl ete d iscl osure of un stai ned nobil ity of soul .
I n what I have to say to you to- n ight I want to dwel l n a few
inc idents wh ich may throw l ight upon Grant ’s contrad ictory career,
andmost of which no doub t are known to you .
He went to West Poi nt on ly because h is father figured that
woul d be the cheapest way for h im to get an educat ion . There
was no l ure for h im i n bugl e cal l or rol l of drums . He served
throughou t the w ar i n Mexico ; drudged for four years in barracks ;then qui t the army
,somewhat i n disgrace ; farmed in Missouri ;
fail ed at that tried real estate and fail ed at tha t ; c lerked i n the
S t . Louis Custom House , and was d ism issed ; tr ied other th ings
and fail ed i n al l then worked a whil e for h is tw o brothers i n Ga
l ena . He never earned more than in any single year,
somet imes much less . He hoped in t ime to be - a part ner i n h is
younger brother ’s store .
And then came Sumter and the cal l for t roops ' After the
years of fai l ure h is Opportun ity w as there a t l ast —and so was he '
You al l know how he trained the loca l company , refused its
cap taincy,and went to Springfiel d to see i f t here was anything
which he coul d do ; how he worked a whi l e at fi l l ing order blanks
and hel ped to dril l raw compan ies of country boys,but being bred
a sol dier would not seek pol itical endorsement s for a chance to
fight .“
He tol d the Governor he d idn ’
t care for rank t il l h e had earned
i t .
“What kind of a fel l ow i s thi s Captain Grant '' the Gov
( 5 )
ernor asked one w ho knew him i n Gal ena . He eviden tly would
l ike to serve but he won t t ry for any h igh posit ion . What does he
wan t '' “ The way to handle h im,
' was the reply,
“ is t o ask h im
no ques t ion s,bu t S imply order h im to du ty . He wil l Obey .
'
Then Governor Yates wired Gran t,w ho had al ready gone away
from Springfiel d,You are thi s day appoin ted Colonel of the 2 1 st
I l l i nois Regimen t . Grant answered simply “ I accept,
' and
hurried back to take his new command .
McClel lan,some years younger, was al ready Maj or General ,
the hero of the Nor thern press w ho were proclaim ing h im a new
Napol eon . Lee,Light Horse ' Harry ’s son
,Sprung from an an
cient l ine of l anded ari stocracy - regarded as the finest sol d ier On
the cont i nent—had refused command of al l the Union forces and
was at the head of the Confederate army . Grant,plain ly born ,
unknown and fr iendless,SO poorly off that h e was forced to pl edge
h is sal ary i n advance to buy a un iform,was colonel of a ragged
regimen t months after the beginn ing of the combat of which he
w as to be the mos t gigan t i c figure i n the end .
Where,unt il now
,are we to find a more bewil dering pic ture
of the vicissi tudes of war '
And always from the day that he was dril l i ng country boys a t
Springfield up to the hour he stood with Lee a t Appomattox he
w as the same straigh t forward,unpreten t ious ci t izen . He never
asked for recogn i t ion or for rank . He never envied those who
served wi th h im or whom he served . He never fai l ed in generosi ty
toward those who fough t for h im or whom he fought . He rose
from rank to rank wi thout his scheming i t i n face of hindrances
which would have baffl ed a design ing man but wh ich he seemed
to overcome merely by overlooking them .
While M cCle l lan i n Virgi nia a t the head of his grea t army had
al l eyes fixed upon h is fu t i l e march ings back and for th , fa te set
( 6 )
Gran t down i n Cai ro with a detached command at the one key by
pressing which the forces could be set i n mot ion to surround and
crush the arm ies of the Sou th . For Cairo w aS t he sou thern t i p of
I l l inois and there the waters of the Midd le West were j oin ed to
form the Miss issippi,Cu t t ing the Sou th in tw o
,ye t giving to the
South so long as sh e coul d hol d i t s banks a great s trategical ad
van tage wh ich Federal successes in t he eas t coul d hardly overcome .
Right here Gran t ’s common sen se h i s subs t i tute for gen iu s
came in play . Whil e others were Of course aware tha t seizing
poi n t s near where the r ivers j oi ned woul d be a step toward spl i t t ing
the Con federacy,Grant saw the vital need of doing i t at once with
j ust the weapon s in h is hand before the South coul d mobil i ze her
forces to confi rm her hol d . He thus ach ieved what others merel y
dreamed,t ran sl at i ng in to term s of conquest the cry which sounded
through the arm ies of the west ' “ The rebel s have cl osed the
Mississ ippi ; w emust cu t our way through to the Gul f by sword '
Forts Donel son and'
Henry,on the Cumberland and Tennessee
,
on ly twelve mil es apart where those tw o st reams run paral le l not
far southeast of Cairo,marked the northern bound of the Confed
eracy ; and Gran t with m i l itary in t u it ion saw that th is was the one
poin t to st rike in order to push ' back the fi rs t l i ne of the South ’s
defen se . Swift l y,wi thout wait ing for i n struct ion s
,he seize
’
d fi rst
Henry and then Donel son . I n den ted at i t s peak the enemy ’s de
fensive l ine al ong thewhole s t re tch from the Missi ssippi to the
Al l eghenies crumbl ed l ike a Shel l ; the Un ion front was thrus t
miles nearer to the Gul f,t he South was pressed back to i t s second
l i ne which ran from Memphis east through Chat tanooga to eas tern
Tennessee . AS the North saw one place and then another fal l,i t
seemed l ike wizardry . But i t w as just w hat Gran t had planned
and what al l m il i tary exper ts knew must fol l ow,when once For t
Donel son was in our hands . There were more men-
at Donel son
( 7 )
than ever fough t before upon our soil . I t was the first substant ial
victory for the Union forces af ter n ine month s of pompous prepar
ation and defea t . Gfant,who had been unknown the week before
outside his ow n depar tmen t,was in a flash the mil i tary idol of the
hour . Whil e i n the East our general s were paralyzed by strategy,
out of the West had sprung a vic tory,a hero and a bat t l e cry '
Grantwithout plan ning i t had sen t a message which electr ified the
North . No terms except an uncond i t ional and immediate su r
render can be accepted . I propose to move immediately upon
your works .
I t is a fascinati ng task to t race Grant’s progress on the map
and wa tch his grim pursui t of the Confedera te forces in the West,
seiz ing their s t ronghol ds one by one,smashing successively each
l i ne of their defense , t ighten ing the coil s around the enemy,el im
inating as a factor to be reckoned wi th al l terri tory save Virgin ia ,al l arm ies save tha t under Leek
.
Ye t Ha l l eck and McClel lan clouded
his fi rst vic tory in pun ishmen t and every later t ri umph had for i t s
prologue or i ts epil ogue an angry chorus of impat ience and abuse .
I shal l n ot give a ca talogue of batt l es . Le t others better
versed in m il itary lore d iscuss de tail s of s t ra tegy for which Gran t
had h imsel f bu t l i t tl e use . War as a game bad'
no at t rac t ions for
him . H is meagre l ibrary had no mil i tary books . He s tudied
tact ic s only for the task in hand .
“ I n ever maneuver,
' he once
said to Meade ; and , to another officer,“ The ar t of war is S imple
enough . Find out where your enemy is ' Ge t at h im as soon as
you can Strike at him as hard as you can , and keep moving on''
Gran t never w as concerned abou t the opposi t ion,considered only
what he had to do h imsel f,assumed the forces of the enemy woul d
be as frigh tened as h is own .
“ I am a smarter man than Gran t,
said Sherman .
“ I know a grea t deal more about war and about
( 3 )
everyth ing el se than he does bu t I ’l l tel l you where he beats me
and where he beat s the worl d . I am always worrying abou t wha t
the enemy is going to do . Grant never gives a damn '
Of all Gran t ’s bat t l es Sh iloh i s the one in mos t dispute . Bu t
this i s u ndisputed—that,however bad ly it was planned and though
the loss in men was great,it marked a s triki ng Federal advance and
swep t the armies of the Sou thwest back tow ard'
their l ast stand a t
Vicksburg .
Buel l,landing on t he r iver bank where st ragglers huddled by
the thousand the even ing of the fi rs t disast rous day,asked Gran t
about h is prepara t ion s for retrea t and Gran t repl ied that he had not
had t ime to th ink Of such a th ing .
“ I know,said Buel l
,
“ but if
you shoul d be whipped , how wil l you ge t your men across the river'
These tran sports wil l not take more than ten thousand t roops- “I f I have to retreat
,came the response
,ten thousand wil l be as
many as I shal l need transport s for .
After the costly victory at Shil oh,Grant underwent a cruel
tes t of l oyal ty and pat ience . He cou ld have been i n hardly worse
repute had he be trayed h is country . Hal leck l umbered to the
fron t,bel i t tl ed h im and l aid him on the Shel f
,
“ Second in rank
with merely nominal authori ty,subj ect to daily s l ight s before the
eyes of hi s ow n army . A storm Of hot denunciat ion broke upon
h im . The press was shri l l with shrieks of Bu tcher Gran t l ' I n
Congress,Harlan cried out in debate that those w ho kep t h im in
command wou ld “ carry on thei r skirt s the bl ood of thousands of
their sl augh tered countrymen .
But Lincol n,who had never seen him
,knew th is of h im
,
which was not t rue of many— that he won bat t l es , made no ex
cuses or compl ain t s , and never was i nvolved in petty schemes to
inj ure others or advance himsel f . So Lincol n said to those who
( 9 )
cal led for Gran t ’s removal I can'
t Spare th is man he figh t s '“ I rather l ike them an ' he said
,
“ I think we had bet t er t ry him
a l ittle l onger ' and then he asked the brand of whiskey which Gran t
drank in order that he migh t send sampl es to h is o ther general s .
And through i t al l Gran t hel d h is poise .
“ I should scorn
being my ow n defender against such a t tacks,
' he wrote to Wash
burne , “ except th rough the record wh ich has been kept of al l myofficial acts .
' And to old 'esse Gran t he wrote'“ I am sure I
have but one desire i n th is war and that i s to put down the re
bel l ion . One enemy at a t ime i s enough,and when he i s subdued
i t wil l be t ime enough to sett l e personal d i fferences .
'
Gran t woul d have marched righ t on to Vicksburg which was
then feebly garrisoned,and woul d have taken i t
,bu t his superiors
had o ther pl an s ; and when at las t he had command again , t ime
had been given the Confederate forces to recuperate . I t took him
a full year to make the ground which had been l ost. And yet i n
spi te of every th ing he kept on dogged ly,t rying one plan and then
ano ther,but a lways pushing on . He was on t rial i n Wash ington .
Discon ten t was Spread ing through t he North,discouraged by the
mon ths of d reary wai t ing west and east,and by reverses i n Vir
gin ia . I t was a dark hour for the Un ion cause .
Then he made up his mind to do a daring th ing to run the
Vicksburg ba t ter ies and l and his forces on th e southern S ide,cu t t
i ng his army boldly from its base and hazard ing the fu ture on a
march through host i l e terri tory from which there coul d be no re
treat . Sherman and the o ther general s advised agains t i t and
Sherman wro te him a Sharp l et ter to preven t i t i f he coul d ; bu t
Gran t had made h is m ind up that i t shou l d be done .
How he landed wi th h i s army on the sou thern S ide ; how i n
a flash he seized Port Gibson and wi th only three days ’ rat ion s,
cutt ing l oose from base,struck north for ' icksburg
,feeding his
army off the country as he rushed from fight to figh t how he cut
Vicksburg off from it s suppl ies how in eigh teen days he marched
tw o hundred mil es,won five pi tched battl es
,took 8000 prisoners
,
scattered a host i l e army larger than hi s ow n,and had the enemy
l ocked up in Vicksburg,i s a tal e whose mere recital emblazon s the
ch ron icl es of war .
“ This is a campaign,
' cried Sherman as he
rode out with Gran t and looked down on the bl u ffs where he had
been repul sed five months before .
“Unt il th is moment I never
thought your movement a success . But th is i s a success even if
We never take the town '
Even those w ho censured Gran t now had to ow n the flaw less
ness of a campaign which has not been surpassed i n h istory,
“ and
wh ich bel onged excl usively to Gran t,no t on ly in the whol e bu t i n
i t s thousands of detai l s wh il e Lincol n sen t that gleam ing no te of
thanks wh ich ends ' “ I now wish to make the personal acknow l
edgment that you were righ t and I was wrong . After the town
had fal l en Gran t handed back to Sherman si l en t l y the le t ter Sher
man wrot e again st h is plan , and never l a ter s poke of i t to h im or
anybody el se . The kn ightly friendsh ip of these men plays l ike a
ray of sunl ight upon the“
clouded face of c ivi l war .
Though Grant ’s career had ended then,h is fame w as safe
,for
subsequen t defeat coul d not have spoi led the record of h is h igh
ach ievement . NO mat ter what had gone before or what might
happen after Vicksburg,he now had confidence in h is own desti ny .
He fel t that he woul d be the one to bring the war to a successful
end . Vicksburg had been before h is eye a t Cairo and i t had now
come hones t l y to him at last among the grea t array of Union gen
erals w ho had i n the beginn i ng more“
pres t ige . He had cl eared up
the M ississippi from Cairo to the Gul f . I t was the succes sful
( I t )
culm inat ion of our fi rst grand strategy and men began to th ink of
Gran t as fi rst among our general s .
And now a greater oppor tuni ty was at hi s hand . The sou thern
l ine had been pushed eas t as far as Chat tanooga,and Rosecran s
w as Cooped up there after h i s rout at Ch ickamauga, s t rongly en
t renched bu t cu t off from suppl ies by Bragg W hose eager army
held the h il l s above the town ; Food an d fuel were ge t t ing scarce,
his horses s tarving,winter com ing on . His idl e army was demor
al ized and he seemed dazed . He must be superseded in order to
escape a great catast rophe . So Stanton made a new divi sion com
prising the whol e m iddl e sou th and west,and pl aced Gran t i n
command . Gran t rushed toward Chat tanooga over swol l en roads,
rel ieving Rosecran s wh il e on t he way and put t ing Thomas in h is
place .
A swift change came wi th h i s arrival . “ That n igh t,says
Horace Porter,
“ after S i t t ing absol u tely s i len t for a while l is ten
ing a tten t ive ly to what the others said and fol lowing on the map
the dispos it ion of the t roops,he straightened in h is chair and
began fi ring ques t ion s at h is new subordinates,pert inen t
,i n c is ive
,
comprehen sive . He was as always eager to push on . Then
turn ing to a tabl e he wrote d ispa tches for an hour ; and the nex t
n igh t again he wro te d ispatches rapidly wi th h is own hand,di spos
ing troops throughout h is new command,summon ing Sherman
,
Hooker and his other general s and planning to cut through a“ cracker l in e '
to Nashvil l e for suppl ies . Wi thi n five days there
w as no fur ther danger of starvat ion or surrender or re trea t . He
coul d hol d the town al l win ter or t i l l re in forcemen t s Shoul d arrive .
And then there broke for Gran t the mos t respl enden t day of
his career . He had no though t of holding Chat tanooga wi th hos
t il e gun s surveying him complacen t ly from neighboring heigh ts .
( 1 2 )
He wai ted on ly unti l Sherman should arrive from M is si ssippi and
Hooker from the East . Then he l eaped out at the enemy . The
three days ’ figh t Of Chattanooga i s the mos t completel y plan ned of
al l h i s batt l es a feat u nmarred in it s perfec t ion and as a Spectacl e
unequal l ed i n the h istory of war . The secrecy and sk il l of the
prel im inary st rategy, t he mil i tary panorama with it s subl ime Scen icset t ing unrol l ed before the eyes of Grant and Thomas
,posted on
Orchard ' nob,watch ing their arm ies in gl i t tering pageant
,march
to unfi
dimmed success,the gl impse of Hooker and h is men figh t ing
“ above the clouds ,' th e marvelous charge of Sheridan and Wood
with nearly twenty thousand bayonet s up to the very top of Mission
ary Ridge, mowing the enemy l ike wheat , th e panic - stricken fl ight
of Bragg’s aston ished t roops,the frantic j oy and t umul t of the vic
torious Union army as Grant rode down t he l ines,blend in a bat t l e
pic ture with no paral l el .
' noxvil l e was saved at Chattanooga and eastern Tennessee
was c leared . The coil s were press ing t ighter upon Lee . A s t i r of
the i n evitabl e ran through the North .
I t was at once proposed that Gran t be made Lieutenan t Gen
eral,but when Gran t l earned of i t he wrote to Washburne w ho had
in troduced a bil l ' “ I feel under many obl igat ion s to you bu t rec
ol lect that I have been highly honored al ready by the Governmen t ,and do no t ask or feel that I deserve anyth ing more i n the shape
of honors or promo t ion s . A success over the enemy is wha t I
crave'
above everyth ing el se . But notwi ths tand ing thi s the bil l
was passed . Lincol n gave Gran t the rank and he was General - in
Chief of al l the arm ies of the Uni ted States .
Before Grant left for Washington to take command he did a
gracious and great - hearted th ing . He wrote to Sherman a let ter
which wil l l ive as l ong as his and Sherman ’s memories endure
( I 3 )
What I wan t i s to express my thanks to you and McPherson as
the men to whom,above al l others
,I fee l i ndeb ted for whatever I
have had of success . How far your advice and assistance have
been of hel p to me, you know,
how far your execut ion of whatever
has been given . t o you to do en t itl es you to th e reward I am receiv
i ng,you cannot know as wel l as I .
'
And here i s Sherman ’s generous reply ' You do M cPherson
and mysel f too m uch honor . At Belmon t you man ifes ted your
t rai t s,nei ther Of us being near . A t Donel son
,al so
,you il l ustrated
your whol e character . I was not near,and McPherson i n too sub
ordinate a capac ity to influence you . I bel ieve you are as
brave,patrio t ic
,and j ust as the great pro totype
,Wash ington ; as
un selfi sh,kindhearted
,and honest as a man shou ld be ; bu t the
ch ief characterist ic is th e S impl e fai th i n success you have always
man ifes ted,which I can l iken to noth ing el se than the faith the
Christ ian has i n the Saviour . This faith gave you victory at Shil oh
and Vicksburg . Also,when you have compl e ted your bes t prep
aration s, you go i n to battl e wi thou t hesi ta t ion , as a t Chattanooga
no doubt s,no reserve
,and I tel l you ,
i t was th is tha t made
us ac t with confidence . I kn ew,w herever I was
,that you though t
of me and if I got i n a t igh t pl ace you woul d come if al ive .
Gran t ’s coming to the Capi tal wh ich he had never seen w as
l ike h im . No one me t h im . No one knew h im . He had no sta ff .
A short and S l igh t s toop - shoul dered man,i n ru s ty uniform
,Wal ked
to the ' desk at the hotel and registered,
“ U . S . Gran t and Son,
Galena,I l l i nois . That w as al l . But it was always so wi th him
for even in h is greatest momen t s he w as devoi d of pride . He w as
a marvel of S impl ic i ty,his manner pl ai n and placid
,almos t meek .
He had no m il i tary bearing,when walking pi tched along as though
ano ther step migh t pl unge him forward on h i s nose ; and as he
( 1 4 )
had no sense of rhythm never march ed or pa id the l east at ten t ion
to the music of th e bands .
And yet t here was another s ide,for wh i le h is ut terance w as
S l ow,somet imes embarrassed
,he used wel l chosen words wh ich
never left the sl ightest doub t Of what he meant to say . He was
s ingul arly pure,i n thought
,i n habit and in Speech . His voice w as
musical,d is t i nct
,l ow
,vibran t
,penet rat ing . His sharp cu t mou th
expressive both of st rength and sweetness was Set at t imes wi th a
rigid ity l ike t hat of fate . He discussed ord inary themes wi th in
terest and turned from them without a shade of difference i n tone
or manner to decisions wh ich involved the fate of arm ies,of h im
sel f Or of th e state . I n planning he coul d not be hurried . In h i s
concl usion s he coul d not be moved . I n bat t l e h e was swift,de
cisive and u nerri ng,ruth l ess as flame .
This was the new ch ief of al l the Union forces i n command of
more than hal f a m il l ion men w ho,se t t ing out upon h i s last cam
paign to crush the arm ies of the South an d bring an end to war,
b ore wi th h im to the fron t these parti ng words from Lincol n “ I
wish to express i n thi s way my ent ire sa t i sfact ion wi th what you
have done up to this t ime,SO far as I u nderstand it . The particu
l ars of you r plan s I neither know nor seek to know . You are vig
ilant and sel f - rel iant and,pleased wi th th is
,I wish not to obtrude
any con st rain t s or rest rain t s upon you . I f there IS anyth ing wan t
ingwh ich i s with i n my power to give , do not fai l to l e t me know .
And now with a brave army and a j u s t cause, may God sustai n
you .
I t Shal l be my earnes t endeavor tha t you and the country
shal l not be disappoin ted,
' was Gran t ’s reply .
“Should my success
be l ess than I desire or expec t,the l eas t I can say is
,the faul t i s
not wi th you .
( 1 5 )
I t has been said that for the North the war began with Get
tysburg and Vicksburg . Til l then the t ime was spen t i n train ing
general s and arm ies and picking the righ t man to l ead . Campaigns
had been haphazard,a summer ’s figh t i ng and a win ter ’s res t
,a
vic tory or defeat— and then wi thdrawal to recuperate . There had
been no comprehen sive m il i tary pl an,no fixed and certain aim
Bu t now there came a change . The task Gran t set h im sel f
was to dest roy Lee ’s army . That done,rebel l ion must disinte
grate . With Lee el im inated the Confederacy woul d crumbl e of
i tsel f . To occupy the Sou thern Capital had sen t imen tal val ue,
but i n Grant ’s plan i t was subord inate,not the main purpose of h is
s t ra tegy .
“ On to Richmond ' had been the Northern cry t il l
Granf’s arr ival . Af ter he came the aim was to get Lee . Lee ’s
army wil l be your obj ect ive poin t,he ordered Meade .
“ W her
ever Lee goes,you wil l go al so .
' When once Lee Shoul d capitu
l ate,Richmond must al so fal l . Wi th Lee a t l arge h is ten t was
the real hear t of the Confederacy .
The two days ’ bat t l e of the Wi lderness wi th i t s ghastl y tol l
brought home to Grant the horror of the pa th i n which hi s feet
were set. I t w as a bit ter test of fibre . Disaster never pressed
h im quite so hard . But he coul d not t urn back . Lee with h is
hard fough t forces for a th ird t ime lay near the Rapidan facing a
hos t il e army on its sou thern S ide . He had twice seen the Army
of the Po tomac,once under Pope
,once under Hooker
,pushed
back across the s t ream,bu t now he saw an enemy wh ich had
fail ed to break his l i nes crouched for another Spring . Grant i n
the open ing encounter,disas t rous though i t seemed
,had forced
h is army forward and hel d his advance . He had l os t heavily,bu t
Lee had su ffered more .
The nex t n igh t wi thou t a rest Gran t grimly headed South.
AS he rode i n the dusk in s i lence al ong his Shat tered ranks,his
( l 6 )
To Richmond Lincol n went from Petersburg not Grant,for
Grant w as busy fol lowing the enemy in their ret reat unt il a t l ast
he asked for thei r surrender . And then Grant came to Appomattox
Court House and en tered the brick dwel l i ng where Lee and h i s
great hour awaited him .
The s tory has been writ ten many times,but no American can
weary of i t s tel l ing . Lee,dressed immacu lately in a un iform of
gray which emphasized h i s fau l t l ess bearing an d h is noble form ;Grant
,i n a pr ivate ’s bl ouse
,soil ed wi th much ridi ng
,on which were
sewn the Shou l der s t raps S impl y to l et h is sold iers know his rank
Lee,carrying a handsome sword
,but Gran t wi th none .
Gran t talked awh i le of ord inary t hings,ignoring the moment
ous theme that brought them there and gen t l y l eaving that for
Lee to i n t roduce,—about Ol d army t imes
,service i n Mexico
,where
he w as a subal tern and Lee Scot t ’s chief of s taff t i l l Lee,rem ind
ing h im that they had bu sin ess i n hand,said he had asked the in
terview to l earn the terms i t w as proposed to give . Then,t urn ing
to a tabl e,Grant wrote as he was won t to write
,swift l y and cl earl y
withou t erasure,no t knowing when he took h is pen what the fi rs t
word woul d be but knowing what w as i n h i s m ind and wish ing to
express i t unmistakably,those term s the ch ival ry of which en shrines
the record of our Civil War .
Then Lee went out,and as he passed the aid s who had been
wai t i ng on the steps arose respec t ful l y . He did not seem to not i ce
them,but l ooking over the green val l ey toward h is su rrendered
army he smote his handsabstractedly unt i l h i s orderl y led up h is
horse . He took the b ridl e . Gran t walked by and touched his ha t
and Lee,re turn ing the sal u te in si l ence
,rode back to his own l ines
,
then home to l ay aside h is un iform .
Tha t afternoon Gran t wired to S tan ton three bare l ines in form
U S )
i ng h im of Lee ’s surrender . When hi s men learned wha t had been
done,they wou ld have fi red sal u tes bu t they were s topped by Gran t .
He'
woul d no t add to the d ist ress of a defeated foe . H e dz’
d not
set fi z’
s f ooz in R ichmond .
Thus the war ended,a gen t l e Spiri t pervading the Spen t
armies North and Sou th,due i n ch ief measure to the generosi ty Of
Grant,who Short l y after received hi s army ’s sal utat ion in the sol emn
pagean t of the Grand Review,c rowned wi th the gl ory Of his
coun t ry ’s grat it ude .
Here i f the tal e Shoul d end to many i t might seem compl ete,
yet i t would on ly hal f be tol d . For we mus t bear in mind tha t
Gran t had two di s t in c t careers,each i n its ow n right merit ing a
place i n h istory . Wi th one of them biographers have no t been n ig
gardly . Wha t they have wri t ten has enriched h is fame ; but wi th
the other they have been less k ind . I t has not been the l i terary
fash ion to commend h im much for h is achievement s after Appo
mat tox y et h is success as an Execu t ive i n t ime of peace i s hard ly
less s ign ifican t than hi s success in war . This Cl ub remembers him
to - n igh t not al toge ther as a sol dier,bu t as a great Republ ican and
Presiden t .
A t th e crest Of h i s renown Gran t found h imsel f i n Washing
ton encumbered with high mil i tary rank'
but Shorn of power . He'had to deal i n s trange surroundings wi th pol i t i cian s whom he did
not know,s t ruggl i ng with ques t ion s al toge ther new . Sumner
,
Stevens,Wade and Bu t l er were forc ing on the Sou th the t ragic
bl under of un iversal suffrage for the newly l iberated sl aves ; 'ohn
son was besm irch ing h is i l l - fated term and in an atmosphere
of. passion and int rigue Gran t,af ter for ty years Obscuri ty and four
years i n camp , had h is fi rs t taste of pol i t ics .
When he was named for Presiden t he added as an af terthough t
to his brief l et ter of acceptance ' “ Let us have Peace .
' TheseI 9 )
words became a mot to ; bu t through h is term he had no peace
h imsel f . Sumner quarrel ed wi th h im,a t fi rs t on San Domingo
,
then on Mo t l ey,
final ly on every other quest ion tha t arose ; and
others W i th more sen t imen t than knowl edge of condi t ion s adopted
Sumner ’s view l argely because of h is prest ige .
Had Sumner been of differen t temper th ings woul d have been
qui te o therwise,and so they migh t i f Gran t had had more Skil l i n
handl i ng men of various sor t s ; bu t Sumner no twithstand ing h i s
nobil ity of purpose was moral ly superior in manner,rhe torical and
vain,whil e Gran t though tol eran t and sane was lacking in a bum
orous touch which Lincol n had and which enabled Lincol n to make
al l owance for divergen t tas tes . Sumner had disapproved of Lin
col n,as now he disapproved of Gran t , and was a thorn in Lincol n ’s
side ; bu t Lincol n had pol i t ical sagaci ty combined with diplomat ic
skil l,whil e Gran t wi th al l h is magnan im i ty had l i t t l e social sen se or
tac t . I t was impossibl e for h im to do what Lincol n did i n making
use of men of Sumner ’s kind .
Gran t has been blamed for l e t t i ng Mo t l ey go ; bu t Mot l ey
w as a wri ter,no t a diplomat . He was a h indrance to nego t ia t ion s
i n wh ich he Shoul d have been an aid . Even ts have j us t ified Gran t ’s
pol icy toward San Domingo,al though the manner of h is handl ing
i t may have been wrong . And SO wi th other things which Sumner
made much of . The record Shows tha t Sumner viewed Gran t ’s con
duc t through dis torted eyes . Ye t Sumner ’s unj us t prej udice has
col ored his tory,because the men mos t c lose to Gran t were not i n
the good graces of the l i terary craft smen upon whom has devol ved
the wri t ing of the s tory of the t ime .
Grant l iked and t rusted Conkl ing,Chandler
,Logan
,Mor ton
,
whose faul t s were man ly faul ts,because he w as h im sel f a manly
man . Al though they were no t a lways n ice i n me thod they were
( 2 0 )
straigh tforward,hones t and con struct ive . They d id not deal in
vis ions,nor did he . They were l ike h im in having no pe t theories .
They were in tensely l oyal . SO was be . They were primari ly Re
publ icans,and SO w as be . He coul d not comprehend the mental
at t i tude Of men l ike Godkin,Bryan t
,Schurz and Bowles
,who al l
had high ideal s bu t were wi thout con struct ive force and had no
sense of person al or party feal ty in pol i t ics . They coul d not work
toge ther much among themsel ves ; how coul d' they hope to work
with him ' They coul d not see that though he had not much to
say he had progressive and far - reaching pol icies ; that w hil e thei r
microscopic eyes were hu n t i ng bl emishes he was forever push ing on .
Grant d id not seek the easy fame wh ich comes to the crusader
he had no miss ion to reform the ways of other men . AS Presiden t
he kept abou t h im those he l iked,nor can we blame the faith wi th
wh ich he cl ung to them .
Grant was the only man I ever knew,says Sn iffen who
was eight years at h is side,upon whose promise you coul d safel y
go to sl eep . He never fail ed to keep his word even in the smal l es t
th ings . I f once he pledged h imsel f you could dismiss i t from yourmind
,and travel round the worl d . I t woul d be done . This t rai t
of cons tancy contributed to h is success , but somet imes brough t him
bitterness of sou l . He had the unsuspec t i ng chival ry of friendsh ip
throughout h is l ife hi s sympathy wen t ou t to those he thought the
vict ims of i nj u s t ice ; h is in st inc t was to Sh iel d them from at tack .
I n the grim chase of j ust ice h is heart ran wi th the fox,not wi th
the hounds .
'or eigh t tumul t uous years he guided the Republ ic with a
steady hand and a t the end of h is admin is trat ion the Un i ted S tates
s tood h igher i n th e est ima t ion Of the worl d than i t had ever s tood
before . Those eigh t years mark a grea t con struct ive per iod i n our
h is tory— the greatest s ince the day of Hamil ton and Wash ing
( 2 1 )
ton ; and ever S i n ce we have been bu il d ing our prosperi ty on the
foundat ion s wh ich Gran t l a id .
“ H is services attest h is great ness,Conkl ing said . His
fame w as earned,no t by th ings wri t ten bu t by the arduous
greatness of th ings done .
'
H e uphel d our na t ional cred i t and
guarded our nat ional honor ; sus tain ed our d ign ity and main
tained ou r right s . He ve toed the I nflat i on Bil l and pu t through
the Resumption Ac t . To him immeasurably more than any
o ther man i s due the fac t that every paper dol l ar i s as good as
gold . He s tood for a Protec t ive Tariff and a great Merchan t
Marine . He was the fi rs t of al l ou r Presiden t s to recogn ize the
principle of C ivi l Service Reform,the fi rs t to sound a warn ing
again s t the peri l of an ignoran t elec torate . He great l y reduced
the nat ional deb t and l owered the nat ional taxes . He had a
s t rong,far - seeing foreign pol icy . I n the mids t of d ifficul t ies he
kept peace wi th al l the worl d . He w as fi rm with Spain,with
Mexico,wi th France
,wi th England
,respec t ing no dist in c t ion be
tween weak and pow erfu l governmen t s where na t ional honor was
at stake .
Throughout Grant ’s term our coun t ry hel d high rank among
the nat ion s Of the earth and an American coul d count wi th cer
tai n ty on their respec t . We then s tood higher i n . the worl d ’s re
gard than at any other momen t S ince the governmen t began . And
fi nal l y to his unfl i nching fairness w as l argely due the peaceful se t
tlement of the succession,when vac il la t ion i n the Whi te House
would have brough t on C ivi l War .
Dives ted of his rank and office he found him sel f once more the
l ooming figure of his t ime . The venom of a t tack was dissipated
wi th the l oss of pow er . There was no more talk of Caesarism,
nepo t ism or corrup t ion . The fol ly of the fi rs t was obvious,now
that the Caesar pic tured by the par ty press had gone back2 2
cheerful ly to private l ife . The S i l l i ness of the at tacks on nepo tism
was man ifest now that th e l i t t l e flock of Office hold ing rel at ives
found their pet ty t i t l e s and emol umen t at the d isposal Of a Pres i
den t On whom they had no cl aim . As for corrup t ion and gift
taking,here was Grant a t the cl ose of S ix teen years of publ ic ser
vice,ih such financ ial s t rai t s that he w as puzzl ed how to ge t al ong
.
He made his tour around the world and was rece ived as the
most famous l iving general,person i fying i n the eyes of Europe
the marvel of democracy . He talked wi th Bismarck and ' on
Mol tke,Gambe t ta
,Gortschakoff and Cas telar
,w i th kings and
queens and emperors,the Czar
,the Pope
,and then came home i n
personal tri umph to pol i t ical defea t .
We come now to the c losing page of h is career,
the d ismal
t ragedy of h is adven tu re into high fi nance,the sordid scheming of
the scoundrel Ward . Grant,l u red by specious prom ises
,unconsc i
ous of impending fate,was l ooking forward to prosperity i n h i s
remain ing years . Surrounded by his famil y and t rophies he plan
ned to end h is days i n profi tabl e ease . He had no publ ic cares or
aspirat ion s,no l ingering res t l essness for power ; hi s Skies were
clear of cl ouds he was con tent .
One morn ing, when he l imped in to the Office of h is fi rm,
he was stunned by his son ’s greet i ng Grant Ward have
fail ed and Ward has fled '' He turned away without a word,
ascended S lowly to h is pr ivate room and late that afternoon the
cashier found h im s itt ing there , cl ose to h is desk, . clasping his
chair convul sivel y,head bowed . Everyth ing he thought he owned
was sw ept away . He coul d not buy a meal . He was too proud
and silent to ask for credi t then .
Str ipped of h is l ivel ihood , harassed by debt s , chagrined by
fai l ure,smar t ing under unj ust st ings
,feebl e i n body , wi th age
creeping on,Gran t faced the world . And yet h is bit terness of soul
2 3
w as sanct ified . His bearing i n advers i ty beatified him i n the
worl d ’s regard .
I t developed that h e had a hopel ess mal ady . His l ife thence
forward was a fight with death . 'or mon th s he could no t l ie i n
bed,but sat propped up i n chairs
,su ffering excruciat ing pain .
And ye t i n Spi te of th i s he set abou t his Memoirs and grimly
turned to his new,unfamil iar task . He woul d compl ete h is work
for h i s own sake,h is family , and those to whom he was in debt .
But when there came the verd ic t that he coul d not recover,he was
in men tal agony ; not tha t he had to d ie,but that he might not
l ive t i l l be c leared his name .
Let us not prolong the story . I t s'
plai n rec ital cut s one l ike
a kni fe . He kept at work upon h is book,dictat ing when he could
not Speak above a whisper, more often pencil l ing his sentences on
pads . The passages he wrote i n the l as t weeks were j ust and
l ucid . They read so simpl y that we can hardly real ize how every
paragraph was drenched in pain . He did not drop h i s penc i l t il l
his l i fe ’s work was done .
Here l et u s l eave a man who had no worse faul t than his
honest i nnocence ; who had few greater virtues than the l oyal ty
for wh ich he was most harshl y blamed ; whose triumphs'
had their
root i n su ffering and whose m isfortu nes sprang from his success
who,l oving peace
,drank deep of war
,and with it s bitter dregs
bapt ized anew the peace he loved ; who, unst irred by sel f seeking,w as glorified through los s of sel f i n a great aim and w ho though
humbly born and unaspiri ng walks i n the nobl e march of h istory
ahead of kings .
P rin t ed by the M idd l ese' C l ub thro ugh the co u rt esy of Hough ton M iffl in Com
pany, Publ ishe rs o f U lysses S . Gran t ,' by Lou is A. C ool idge, Am eri can S tatesmen
S e ries ,
( 24 )
