CHAPTER XVII.

THE GRADE OF GENERAL-GRANT COMMISSIONED A GENERAL-HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE, HABITS, MANNERS, CONDUCT, AND DRESS-GRANT IN BATTLE -HIS MILITARY FAME-HIS KINDNESS OF HEART-DEATH OF COLONEL O'MEARA-A PLEASANT LETTER-THE OLD SOLDIER AND GRANT-ANECDOTE OF STANTON AND LINCOLN-GRANT'S RELIANCE UPON DIVINE PROVIDENCE-HIS TREATMENT OF SUBORDINATE OFFICERS-WHAT HE SAID OF SHERMAN, THOMAS, SHERIDAN, AND OTHERS-ANECDOTE OF GRANT—HIS JUSTICE-A CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY.

IN the summer of 1866, the grade of general was revived in the army, and on the 25th of July, 1866, the President commissioned Grant to the office, General Sherman on the same day succeeding him as lieutenant-general. In 1798, Congress conferred on Washington the grade of lieutenantgeneral, and had he lived another year, he would have been a full general. Upon the death of Washington the grade was discontinued.

In the long years from February, 1849, to December, 1852, earnest efforts were made to confer the grade of lieutenant-general, by brevet, on General Winfield Scott, for hist long and illustrious services to the country; but his enemies were ingenious and malignant, and among them the most pertinacious was the then Honorable Jefferson Davis.

When General McClellan succeeded to the command of the armies, General Scott was retired as a lieutenant-general; but no officers, except Washington and Grant, ever

held the full rank. Grant is the first full General of the armies, and is now a little over forty-six years of age.

General Grant is not such a man as an idealist would picture for a great hero. He is small of stature, and neither striking in appearance, nor cloquent in speech. Though strong and compactly built, he is what might emphatically be termed, a “plain little man." At first sight, the beholder wonders how such a man ever became great, and at once feels a personal superiority over this dull little personage; but after being in his society for an hour or two, the stranger, with all his smartness, finds out he can make nothing out of the quiet General, and begins to suspect he is the smartest of the two. A close observer can now and then detect a merry twinkle in the General's eye, as the pompous politician, with learned and particular phrase assumes to instruct his dull auditor, and sometimes a word escapes him which shows Grant knows more of the subject on hand than he chooses to let on. "You must talk plainly with Grant," said a distinguished statesman to a friend, as they were entering the General's head-quarters, "for he is about the dullest fellow on politics I ever saw.' When they came out the friend to whom this caution had been given said: "That man, Grant, is as smart as a whip. Did you not observe how shrewd he was in finding out our opinions, and yet, when we came back at him for his, he talked round us, and said—just nothing; and withal, was so frank and polite, we had to put up with what he did say? He got our opinions, but I can't say we got his; yet I am sure he has one, if he don't tell it."

The truth is, Grant is a good listener, and always knows just what he is going to do, but he seldom tells of it beforehand. When he doubts, he selects his adviser, sends for him, and after laying the whole case before him asks for an opinion, which, when given, the General weighs carefully, and then acts. He is strictly honest, and a strong believer in

human instinct. When a man's heart is pure, and prompts him to do a thing, the General thinks he should follow the leadings of that better nature. Grant's brow is contracted, but the forehead is smooth and of the ordinary height; his teeth are small and firmly set in a square and compact jaw, that says plainly enough, "my will must be carried out." His nose is aquiline, but not much of a nose; and his mouth, broad and firm, with full red lips. The eyes are sad and dreamy in their expression, blue in color, and light up when he talks or smiles. When Grant laughs, his eyes begin to laugh first, and then it spreads over his face, and terminates in shaking his whole body, but he never roars. The whole of the lower part of the face is covered with a closely cropped reddish beard, and on the upper lip he wears a moustache, cut to match the beard. His hair is abundant; brown, worn short, and parted on the left side. When he was young, it is said he wore his hair parted in the middle; but this is utterly unworthy of belief.

In his private life, Grant is irreproachable. Humane, generous, and pure, whether we consider him as a citizen, a son, a husband, a father, he is blameless. Some years ago, he occasionally took a glass of whisky, but after they began to censure him for it in public he quit entirely, and does not at the present time even taste wine.

In manners, he is the gentlest of gentlemen, and his mildness is proverbial. No one ever was rebuffed or insulted by General Grant, and his whole deportment invites confidence. The humblest drummer boy in the army can approach him and have an interview if he desires it, and even the beggars on the street feel that "the kind-looking gentleman" will surely give them something. "If I can only see General Grant for a minute, I shall be all right," said a poor, sick soldier who wanted to go home; and he was quite right, for

when he got into the head-quarters the kind-hearted General gave him a furlough.

In his dress, General Grant is plain but neat. He is seldom seen in uniform, and when he is, wears no gaudy plumes. nor trappings. In the field, he was careless of his personal appearance; indeed, his mind was so much engaged he could give little thought to his body. A person who saw Grant in battle, thus writes about him:

"Those who had never seen General Grant would scarcely be likely to have singled him out from the hundred others on the ground around Chattanooga as the man whom the country recognizes as having done the most, and of whom so much is expected, to crush the rebellion by hard blows, and of the exercise of those qualities which enter into a character of true greatness. He was there to be seen, enveloped in a rather huge military coat, wearing a slouched hat, which seemed to have a predisposition to turn up before, and down behind, with a gait slightly limping from his accident at New Orleans, giving his orders with as few words as possible, in a low tone, and with an accent which partook of the slight nervousness, intensity of feeling, yet perfect self-command, seen in all his movements. General Grant might be described best as a little old man-yet not really old-who, with a keen eye did not intend that any thing should escape hist observation. At that battle he was not in his usual physical condition, his recent illness, added to his arduous labors, having made him lean in flesh, and given a sharpness to his features which he did not formerly have. Those features, however, go far to define the man of will and self-control that he is. At the critical moment of the day's operations, the muscles appeared to gather tighter and harder over his slightly projecting chin, which seemed to have an involuntary way of working, and the lips to contract. There is in what

he does or says nothing that has the slightest approach to ostentation or show, but the palpable evidence of a plain. man of sense, will, and purpose, who has little idea that more eyes are turned on him than on any other man on the continent. From his first struggle at Belmont to his last at Chattanooga, the men led by him have fought more steadily, fiercely, and successfully than those of any other portion of our army. In looking back over the history of the war, the eye rests upon no more glorious pages than those whereon are written Fort Donelson, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga."

The prestige of Grant is entirely impersonal. Reticent and impassive, he has not the temperament which inspires spontaneous individual enthusiasm. You see him, and find it difficult to associate his personality with his deeds, and make them one, but you always feel you are in the presence of an honest, kind-hearted man, and if you want him to do you a favor, you will not hesitate one moment to ask him.

Grant is an inveterate smoker, and is seldom seen without his cigar. He loves horses and always keeps two or three good ones. He is entirely without ostentation in his house and table, and is exceedingly hospitable. Every body and every thing about him is for use, and his servants and attendants are never permitted to put on airs. His duties are all attended to with the utmost regularity, and his subordinates are required to be prompt and industrious. He is scrupulously polite in his business intercourse with his officers, and endeavors to have every one treated kindly who comes to his head-quarters.

There are many instances of Grant's kindness of heart, but two or three must here suffice: When he heard of the death of Colonel O'Meara, one of the officers under his command at Chattanooga, he hastened to see the daring and brave man's remains, which were at the landing in a coffin, waiting for transportation. The General ordered the coffin