The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1877-03-14
Ulysses S. Grant.

day, and becomes the sole surviving
ex. President Of the Republic. All
who have filled the high trust before
him rest in City of the Silent He is
yet in the vigor of life, having been
the youngest Of our Chief Magistrates,
and the country in whose most thrill.
ing annals he is one of the great CEN
tral figures, will rejoice to see him
long among the people who have deem
ed their richest gifts his merited offer
ings.
The Ulysses S. Grant Of to-day and
the Grant of the future history Of the
nation, will present very different por
tIaits to the world. Time mellows
the passions aud prejudicos of men,
aud the grave "covers every defect,
buries every error, extinguishes every
resentment" aud only the attributes
Of greatness, whether developed in
good or in evil, survive for the criti-
cism and example Of the generations
which follow. The history Of each of
the three Presidents whose names are
inseparably interviewer with our civil
war, starts in obscure birth, and their
advancement was rough.hewn by their
own almost unaided endeavors; and
the life Of Grant presents the anoma.
lous illustration Of gallent young
soldier returning TO the obscurity
whence he came, and to the listless
career that repelled ambition from his
dreams A quiet, unobtrusiVe, uufeIt
citizen in humble employment at Gal.
-. glad to make bis scant livelihood
en, "a forty dollars month he
, OUT ol w. l. s 49,. called into notice by a
inrep Ioca, NJ eo,;T% m or iospi.s ID by the appall
ing news that fraternal VIA Nau S'teu"
its fearful shadow over the cou.'r!'
and as one known to be skilled III
military affairs, he was made PROM
nsut in the consultation of his com
munitv over the terrible trial that was
at hand for free government. Regi
ment after regiment was organized
sent to the field, and Grant was yet
behind, for he had few friends to press
his promotion and he knew little of
the arts which ai' self-advancement.
One faithful friend, Mr.. E. 3. Wash
burnc, made Governor Yates, over
come his prejudice, and reluctant col,
onel's commission made the hero Of
Appomattox and the ruler who has
stamped more Of his individuality up
on the Republic than any of the long
line Of Presidents of the past.
AS soldier he is of his own school
OF all the scores of generals who
frightened aud faded during four
years of battle, none riyalcd Grant, in
any measure, in the attributes which
finally won the costly victory over re
bellion. And his military career was
as strangely varied as it was grandly
successful. His first battle was - mis-
take and failure his next victory;
his next triumph that called out the
grateful affection Of the nation, and
his next a blundcr that was esteemed
worse than q crime. Shiloh ended
his command, and but for a generous
IL trusting President he would have
retired into forgetfulness. Time soft
ened the bitter asperities which
crowded upon him, and the recall of
Halleck to Washington to become
Commander. in Chief restored the fall
len leader Of Shiloh to the head of his
army. How he won Vicksburg after
repeated failure had made the heart
of the country sick with hope deferred,
is a story that is fresh in every mem
ory. 1.-The Father of Waters again
goes unvexed to the sea, was the elo-
quent tribute to his victory that came
from the pen of Lincoln. Again at
the battle among the clouds Of Tenn
esseethe sent out the bulletin of tri-
umph, and with one accord the coun.
try that clamored for bis destruction
but few months bef&e, rejoieed as
Congress created laurels for him which
had only been won by a Washington
aud Scott; and his orders thence
forth summoned a million men as rea-
pers in the fearful harvest of death. In
the Wilderness battles he taught the
world how free government made her.
olsm Of its own. II was the tempest
of destruction, the hurricane that toy
Nd with the dead, but it was the way
to peace, and only Grant would have
dared and won as he did. For a long,
long twelvemonth he held the Confed
eracy IN itsAying agonies, and saw it
convulse ne civilized world and be-
reave every home in the land in its
struggling thrOes. But Appomattox
came at last, and there was but one
man in all the twenty millions who
battled on his side, who could have
lived in the trust Of the nation and
tempered victory with the generosity
that Grant gave to Lee when the