The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-05-23
The Great General.
Aleck Stephens Account OF His Visit for
the Hampton Roads Conference.

Alexander II. Step hens in the course of an
interview on the subject of the celebrated
Hampton Roads conference in 1865 gives the
following inte resting account of meeting Gen
eral Grant: 1t was about s o'clock in the
evening when we arrived at General Grants
head gu arters, rude log hut, lacking adorn-
meDt or any evidence of that style and mill
tary pomp so generally found surrou nding our
own co nfederate generals. I had always had
a great desire to see General Grant, and con-
sequently this interview possessed great in.
terest to me. Even before we reached the
generals headquarters L was struck with the
fact that there seem cd to be no guards to OBJ
struct our progress. We usually found them
three deep before we got into the presence of
a confederate brigadier, but here we walked
directly to the headquarters. General Bab-
cock knocked, voice answered, "Come in!'
and we found General Grant alone, sitting at
table strewn with papers, writing. coal
oil lamp furnished fickering light, and a
huge wood fire blazed in primitive fireplace
As we entered Grant arose to receive us with
out any effort at show, simply saying with an
air of self-reliance, Gentlemen take seat"
We sat for quite time, during which Off
GERS and orderlies were coming and going and
the general transacted his business as prompt
ly and regularly as though we had not been
present. When any person would knock he
would say, "Come in,' and would occasional
ly go to the door, call an orderly and ask him
, he knew the location of such brigade, di-
vision or corps and dispatch him with orders
for T r
with the utter absence of style and show about
him. He was dressed in short frock coat
with not single evidence of military rank. 1
was also amazed at the decided way he had
of putting his point and doing his business
His sentences were short and to the point, and
his manner that of self-possessed man of
business. / could not help drawing a con trast
between him and some of our confederate Off
GERS. Even General Lee to a very great extent
demanded the recognition of the distinctions of
rank.
OF course, the object of our mission was
soon the subject of discussion between US,
and we found at tie outset that we had
friend in General Grant. We found, too, that
instead of being on spree, as had been re-
ported he was i'll Washington, which caused
the delay. AS we spoke of the object of our
coming he seemed anxious for peace, and dur
ing all our stay took vast deal of trouble aud
responsibility in bringing about the meeting be-
tween ourselves and President Lincoln and
Mr.. Seward. After spending a IN ,st pleasant
evening we suggested to him. if he would
furnish an orderly to show us to our quar-
ters, we would not interrupt his business
further. He said: "Oh. no; | will show YOU
myself and turning down his light, as a
country lawyer would going out upon small
attachment case, Grant himself led the way
through the darkness to his own dispatch-boat,
where we were to spend the night. He walked
with Judge Campbell, while 1, Mr. Hunter
and Colonel Hatch followed behind. 1t was
very dark night, and here was this great
soldier, the commander of million men.
walking with us alone and apparently uncon-
cerned under the greatest responsibility that
can be put upon any man. During our pas
sage from his headquarters to the dispatch
boat we passed two sentries, who would say
Halt! Who goes there?" General Grant
would remark in very quiet undertone:
THE commanding officer, SENTRY" and we
would pass on. When we got aboard the
boat aud were ushered into the cabin we
found that fully a half hundred general Of
ficers, nearly all of the corps, division, and
many of the brigade commanders of General
Grants army had been quietly congregated by
General Grant to meet us. We were intro
duced to all OF them. and soon sat down to
splendid dinner specially prepared for us. L
was again struck with the transformations ease
ofsGeneral Grants manner while among his
subordinate officers and the absolute good feel
ing between him and his generals They all
appeared to be upon the most familiar terms
with him, and there was not the slightest evil
dence of restraint in his presence that was ap-
parent among some of our confederate gener-
ais. He remained awhile and finally excused
himself, saying that his business demanded
his attention, and departed absolutely alone
for his Headquarters