The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1871-06-03
GRANTS ECCENTRlCITIEs.
Interestin. "Reminiscences by an Arm,
.-...... Onleer. -

| IMterestin. "Reminiscences BY an Army
'.. officer. .-.I|-
The Albany Ayyls publishes an article report
| ing what an army officer, whose names is not
given, knows about Gen. Grant. This officer
atnrms that Grant was modest quiet and
rather dull boy at West Point. He was remark.
| ably attentive to his duties: but in the second
year he contracted fondness for cards and
drink, which has been his besetting weakness
| all through life. He was undoubtedly deficient
IN most branches of study, and graduated low
down in his class. The only accomplishment for
which he was distinguished was his skill in
horsemanship. When Grant got his hard fall
at New Orleans, after the surrender of Vicks.
burg, be could not have been sober, for no horse
could throw him when he had command of his
faculties" When first appointed - the army.
according to this authority, Grant was sent to
Fort kearny, where whisky and cards were tbs
| staple entertainment winter and summer. Grant
drank fair and never cheated at poker or loo"
The subsequent history of Gen. Grant up to the
beginning Of the rebellion, this writer narra.es
as follows:
In the Mexican war he was considered good
| soldier, although he acquired no uncommon dis.
tincton, his loose habits, contracted on the plains
still cllnglng to him, soon after the treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo he was ordered to California.
his general career being of rather discreditable
character. His propensity for drink so increased
upon him that he was forced to resign from the
army, to avoid being oashiered by a court mar.
tlal. From that time up to his appointment as
Colonel OF an Illinois regiment of volunteers by
Gov. Yates, he led vagabond sert of life, earn
ing precarious Livelihood by laboring in the
market garden of his father-in.law, and subse.
quently working in tannery at Galena.
While On the Dent farm he was accustomed to
drive team loaded with wood or hay into St.
Louis or Jefferson Barracks, and there wa. moth.
ing IN his appearance or conduct to distinguish
him from the other laborsrs of the neigh borhood,
except that he was more careless and slovenly in
his attire, and looked more like loafer than the
average Of his associates.
The same authority makes the following esti.
mate of Gen. Grants character:
The cardinal defect in Grants character, and
that which has permitted him to fall into these
grave errors which must ever remain as a STAIN
upon dis reputation-meanlng the indiscrimi-
nate acceptance of presents from all quarters
and OF every description, and the appointment
70 high office often apparently in confederation
| thereof-isa lack of the attributes that belong
to gentleman. Neither by BIRTH instinct,
early training, nor his associations in maturer
years. did he derive those delicate notions of
Proprety and that appreciation of what was
due to himself as well as Others without which
no man can adequately fill high and response.
BILE position. These deficiencies led him into
low associations while subaltern in the army
and they account for the facility with which he
is approached by horse dealers, dog fanciers,
and men OF gross appetites while in the Prssi.
Dental chair. Grant was not naturally man OF
vicious or depraved inClina,ions. To be sure
he had not that innate sense of rectitude and
propriety which anim.tes men Of more elevated
moral strain and having facile turn of mind,
was readily impressed by those who surrounded
him.