New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-12-02
GENERAL GRANTS BOOK.
THE STORY OLA GREAT COMMANDER.
NOTWITHSTANDING EVENTS MODESTLY AND
TERSELY NARRATED.

PERSONAL MEMOIRS OF U. s. GRANT: In two
volumes. Vol. /. Svo., PIP 5sl. CmE4es !"
Webster & Co. -
The STYLE of General Grants book has been 50 well
exhibited in the specimens OF his writing conIr'o
uted to The Century magazine that comment
upon il seems superiuous. Indeed when we nave
said that il is model of simplicity and directness
we have said almost everything. We hardly knp"
of any book more straightforward and sensible.
No+bins il added TO it for rhetorical effect not a
nbrase is peedlessly embeshed. The illustrious
outbor however possessed literary ability for
which the world never gave him credit, and which
he himself probably did not suspect. He had a
remarkable power of clear terse and effective state
ment: so that his narrative OF complicated ana
world-stirring events moves on with an ease toi
which famous historians often labor IN vain. For
this reason, among others. lac is always intensely
interesting There is not a dull page IN Vbe
volume.
The modesty of the Memoirs" IS quite as
striking as their unaIticial symmetry Oeheral
Grant neveIl boasts, and never enlafgeS unouIy
a-an rnon his most distinguished achievements.
lie has not left us a military history, although MS
hook will be an essential authority for all future
histories of the war; he has only described his
,ersonoI experiences; aud that he has succeeded III
doing this without Wanting his services is the best
possiblc proof of the strength and simplicity OF MS
character His disposition in writing about Others
is evidently kind and generous, but he does not
SPARE censure in certain cases. He is always
independent and courageous.
He throws no light upon the disputed question oil
bis name, but he glges particular account OF MS
ancestry. His family, he says, " Is American anu
has been for generations, in all its branches,
iirect and collateral" Matthew Grant, from whom
che General was the eighth in descent eigrated to
Dorchester. Massachusetts, in 1880, and III 1859
removed TO what is now Windsor. Connecticut.
He was surveyor of the colony for more than forty
wears Noah Grant the grandfather OF Ulysses,
served in tue patriot army throughout the ReVcIu-
tionary War from Bunker Hill 10 Yorktown, ana
in 1899 settled in Ohio, where the town OF Deerhcd
now stands His son Jesse. the father OF Ulysses.
learned the trade of a tanner in Ohio and worked
Tor and lived in the family of, Mr.. Brown the
father of John Brown whose body lies moulder-
Inc in the ground while his soul goes marching
oman interesting fact which seems to have been
unknown to Browns latest bioerapher
Jesse Grant was in comfortable circumstances,
and Ulysses enjoyed all the scauty advantages Of
schooling which the country afforded, but he was
not studious boy, and, moreover, like every body
else in those early lays, he had to work.
While nv father carried on the manufacture OF
leather and carried Oh the trade himself, be owned
and titled considerable land. l detested the trade
of agriculture and Of all employment IN winch
horses were used We mad, among other lands, nifty
acres of forest within mile q the village. III iEe
fall OF the year choppers employed TO cat
enough wood to last a twclTemontn; " hen was
seven eight years OF age began L0QIlh4 az tHe
wood used in the house aud shops / cOulG not
load 10 on tie wagons OF course at th2J time, ont
could drive and the choppers would load &nc some
one at the house unload. When about eleven years
old was strong enoagh to hold plough. From
that age until seventeen | did all the work done
with horses su IN as breaking up the ldnd 1uIroW-
ing. plOurhin~cOrn and potatoes, bringing IN me
crops when harvested hauling All the WOOD ueSl.e3
tending two or three horses, a COW Or two ana
saving wood for stow, S, etc, wue sun III rh'luE
school For this l was compensated pl the I','1
that there WAS never any sCOldlug or pulllshh@ ty
nv parents: no objection TO rational enloFnehts.
such as fishing, going TO the creek mic away 10
swim in sunni CT. taking horse and visiting my
grandparents IA the adjoining county. hllce1 niles
of. skating the ice IN winter, or taklng.a morse
and sleigh VIII u there was snow on the ground.
He was put into the army without any wish OF
his own, very much as he might have been put to
q Job of hoeng corn. ULYSSES" said his father
abruptly. after reading letter." believe you are
going TO receive the appointment" What
annointmentY" "To West Point; have applied
for it." "'But | won't co. said He said he
thought 1 would, and thought so TOO # he did," 81
he entered the military academy without taste 1oI
a military life, and passed through his course
without relish for the career into which he had
been thrust and with no other ambition than Il
shin in some respectable college, His standing al
the Academy never vas high except in mathe
MATES. When he was graduated in 1913, and
assigned to the 4th Infantry, he gave 10 promise OF
distinction, and exhibited moreover an inherited
consumptiye tendency, which was not overcome
until he passed through the heroic treatment o.
Open-air campaigning during the Mexican War. Hi
regimet vas of the first ordered to the tronte
WI en- lOstiltieS were mpendng,and he wasattache'
to the gallant little army of General Taylor whicl
won the earliest laurels of the war. Most of tn
officers were Indifferent TO the rights Of our quarrc
with Mexico; but no one could ever say that Gran
had not a mind OF his own He fully understood
the infamous purpose which lay back of the annex
alton of Texas and the dishonorable means b,
which the plot was carried out. For myself, wa
bitterly opposed to the measure, and TO this dal
regard the war which resulted as one of the mos
unjust ever wage1 by stronger against weakc
nation" 1t is unnecessary to say. however that h
did his duty as a soldier with exemplary fidelity
and zeal.
He describes tho scandalous behavior of tn
Administration toward both Taylor and Scott viii
refreshing vigor, and his explanation Of the miser
able political intrigues accompanying the war is
model of brevity and clearness owing not a lI;tl
of its effect to the measured simplicity of its state
ments. HIS sketches of the two chiefs-TaylOr AM
Scott-under whom he served, and of Worth, VIII
was his immediate commander, extremel.
interesting. He had high opinion of both TaylO
and Scott, but it is evident that Taylor, who's
character and temperament were something lik
his own, drew his sympathes while Scott onl!
compelled his admiration Both, he says, wer
pleasant to serve under; Taylor was pleasant t
serve with lie does justice to the soldierly quail
tiles of Worth, but tnat rather fussy hero did no
attract him, and now and then seemed to biI
ridiculous.
found General Worth different man from an
baG before served directly under. lie wa
nervous, impatient and restless on the march. G
when important responsible duty conironte
him. There was not the ieast reason for haste o
tile march. for 1t was known that 1t would TAX
weeks TO assemble shipping enough at the point {