Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-06-04
FROM zANEsvILLE.
Correspondence of the Ohio Statesman ]
Z.NrsvIIIn. june 3. 1868

ZANEsvILLE, o., June 8, 1868.
EDITOR STATESMAN The great Repub-
lican ratification meeting came off Satur-
day, May Both, at "Odd Fellows Hail."
From the desperate effort made to rally a
crowd, one would have been forced to the
conclusion that tremendous meeting was |
held and ''glory enough for one night OBJ
tained," but not SO; the whole thing was a
failure. A small number, indeed, of the
faithful were on hand, and with the aid of
the ladies present made an effort to fill the
few seats that were to be found in said
building. The hall certainly was not more
than half filled, and the expectation of the
people was not half met, neither in the crowd
nor the speaking. The speech delivered by
Gen. Leggett was but poor effort. We
had hoped for something good-something
that would be beneficial to US in determin-
ing the doctrine and future teaching of the
Republican party; but no information of
that kind was furnished by the effort of that
gentleman. He seemed to dwell altogether
upon Grant and his private acts in the line
of soldier, such as appointing Colonel
Baker Engineer, Sheridan in command of
Cavalry, &C., &C., the whole being tire
some effort, both to the speaker and the
audience. There was none of that enthu-
siasm that is generally exhibited on an oc-
casion of this kind. In fact, there was
scarcely enthusiasm enough to call forth
lively tune from the band that was in at
tendance. That it was complete failure is
undisputed by almost all the Republicans
that were there. Though the Courier trys
to puff it into the size of a meeting of some
merit, yet it must fail, and does fail IN the
estimation of all that make it their business
to enquire from parties present as to the
success of the "GRAND RATIFICATION MEET
ING" No talk, no comment, from any
of them, but a kind of quiet, sue
every member of the party. There
certainly is much less interest manifested
in the nomination than any nomination that
has been made since the Republican party
came into power. Why is it so? Are the
people disappointed in the men? 1t looks
so, and the only hope seems to be the NOM
inee of the Democratic party! Who will he
be? Will it be so averse to the good of the
country as to select man who is notea-
pable of handling the reins of Government
as Grant is, or will they choose statesman
and man not quite so ''horsey" as the nomi-
inee of the ''euer blessed Union PARTY" We
hope the choice will be made of one whose
intellect is sufficient to incite him to more
than simply choosing engineers" We want
q man of ability, and one competent for the
business.
Hastily yours, JACK.
General Grant as a Tanner.
The Denuer Gazette bestows this consid-
Grafton upon General GRANT as Tanner
An exchange, reviewing one of our
complimentary notices OF Grant, says he
tanned the hides of Copperheads, rebels,
etc.
The exchange alluded to has tackled the
wrong person with its statistics upon this
subject, by thus criticising our remarks
We happen to have known Grant before
the war and while it was going on, when,
strange to say, as we are dubbed "Cop-
perhead," we were in the same military
service as himself, and under his command.
When Colonel OF the 21st Illinois Infantry,
at Mexico, Mo-, he was a raving Democrat.
One day he was in Ringgold's Bank, in
thought the war was to be prosecuted for
the abolition of slavery, he first avowed
himself to be Democrat, and then said he
did not believe such to be its object, but
that if such were the object of the
war, upon being convinced of the fact, he
would resign his commission in the Fed
eral army and go over to the enemy.
We were at Donelson, and know that
the only tanning process he INDUCED in at
that place during the battle, was the tan
ming of his inner hide with whisky. He
tanned himself in this manner until he was
unable to sit up on his horse. That battle
was fought by Gen. Smith, and Grant got
the praise. How did he tan the rebels at
Shiloh? We were there. On the 9Th day
of April, 1852, we, ''Copperhead," ex-
pended upwards of one hundred and sixty
rounds of ammunition, shooting at the reb-
els; our hide was tanned during the day,
slightly, however, by rebel bullets, while
the great rebel tanner" Grant, was down
the river at Savannah. When the sun was
shedding his last rays over that bloody
days work, we saw Grant, just
from below, sneaking off trans
port at Pittsburg Landing. Who
turned the tide of battle the day follow
ing? Grant was there, but the fighting
was done under the direction of man who
ed, Carlos Buell.. There is not soldier
who participated in that battle who will
not say, that only for Buell., Grants army
would have been annihilated at Shiloh
Truly has the brave Prentiss said that ''the
true history of that battle was never writ
ten." aes. r.s -e -#s
We can't understand how Grant tanned
the hide of old Andy. If ever a man was
thoroughly tanned by another it is Grant,
who was proven publicly, liar and fool,
by Andrew johnson and the combined tes ;
timony of five officers. We may indulge in
a few more "reminiscences concerning
Grants tanning qualities at some future