Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1865-05-13

Hero WITHOUT VANITY
Gen. GRANT presents the anomalous char
acter of a military leader possessing consum-
ate ability without any apparent regard for
display In almost every instance great mil
itary genius has been accompanied with a
large amount Of personal vanity. GRANT
seems to care nothing for eclat. He has no
love for fuss and feathers, does nothing for
mere display, avoids parade, and devotes
himself wholly to the practical business in
hand When great campaign has been ter
minated by victory, instead Of GROWING him
self with laurels and going out to snuff the
incense of popular applause, if any leisure is
afforded him he modestly avoids public de-
monstrations, to visit his family, or seek
some new field for the earnest and unosten-
tatious exertion of his talents in the service OF
his country. He seems to be "the still strong
man in a blatant land" that the world has
long waited to see. Up to the present time
Richmond What other living man, after so
long struggle and SO magnificent triumph,
could have denied himself the qualification of
entering the city with the customary ostenta-
ton of victorious general. Suppose it had
been Banks or Butler, who after such cam.
paign had achieved such success. With what
eagerness they would have gathered every
laurell With what pomp and circumstance
they would have worn them What thunder
of cannon and what blare of brazen instru-
ments would have announced to the people
of the fallen city that the conquering hero
came Nor they alone. There is not proba-
who would not have made some sort of tri-
unphal entry into the subjugated capitol of
rebellion.
Below we give some account of what Grant
did after the city was taken aid Lee had sur
rendered, as we find it given in an exchange:
! A friend who was with General Grant i'm
/ mediately after the equalization of Lee, re-
| lates to us a conversation which that brave
and modest soldier had with his wife and a
staff-oflicer at City Point. "Well, General, y
said the latter, "you will go up to Richmond
! tomorrow, suppose 2" NO." said Graft,
81 have days work in Washington, and
| then want to 90 on with Mrs Grant 10 New
Jersey and see the children" "What's to be
done at Washington? was the astonished re-
ply; "one would think you'd like to see the
inside of the city you have been pounding at
| for a YEAR" Said the general: "Why, we
must stop the draft; let the sick soldiers that
| can travel home, and want to, be paid off and
sent to their friends, and begin cutting down
expenses. If there is any more fighting to
| do, we have more than enough men to do
it,"
The general went to Washington as he had
planned, making no triumphal entry into
! Richmond, stopped the draft, put the sick
| soldiers in the way of getting home-nursing,
| set the War Department to reducing expen-
SEES, and then FASTENED to Burlington with
| Mrs. Grant to ''see the children" He had
hardly reached the depot there before he was
recalled by the news of the assassination of
the President. His return to Washington
from North Carolina, where Johnstons sur
| render to Sherman makes the assurance of
peace doubly sure, is signalized by similar
orders, all tending to lift off the people the
| grievous burdens of war; orders for retrench'
| ing expenditures, stopping manufactures of
arms, discharg;ng eonvalescent soldiers, can
| ceiling the charters of needless vessels, and
whatever else the sacred writer prefgured in
that vision of people beating their swords
| into plowshares and their spears into pruning
hooks at the dawn of the last days, when,
with peace under the vine and fg-tree, ma
| ton shall no longer lift up the sword against
nation. and the people learn war no more.
We welcome these acts with grateful
hearts. The Lieutenant General declares to
| be concluded the victories of war, and, pass
| ing as it were from the theater where he and
the armies under his charge have extorted
the admiration of the world with their superb
| achievements, he makes way for the enacting
of the victories of peace. These orders
which he has given are his plain American
fashion of doing the business next at hand /;
and where a French general, conscious of
having reached the summit of his martial
achievements, and perceiving the scenic re-
lations of such historic events, would issue a
bulletin doing eloquent justice to himself and
the situation, Grant has almost forgotten to
congratulate his armies and has begun to send
| them home