Omaha daily bee., 1885-10-03
GRANTS ONLY VAR SPEECH.
Major j. W. Wham's "reminiscences OF
Early War Times
Governor Yates Regiment of Illinois
"HellionS" With Grant as
Colonel.

NltlOl JbStilU w W lliNt sat III llit NOsN
back room Of his raymastcr's Office in
the government building at No. 80 West
Houston street, recently, and talked
about his old colonel, U. s. Grant, to u
NewYorkT Tribune reporter who had wan
derrd into that abode of pay-rplls.
81 was q private in the Twcnty.frst
Illinois Regiment, the first and only ono
of which Grant was ever colonel" said
the major.
''Ah, then you were one of Gov. Yates
I" hcllionsY' p" said the reporter.
"Yes, sir, I was, said the major, bring.
ing his swinging chair TO the right about.
face with an emphatic snap, "and want
to say right here that that regiment has
ease were simply these: Our regimcnt
was composed of some of the best mate
rial that Tod ever made either for pur.
poses of war or peace. We were all OF
us young men, from eighteen to thirty
years of age, aud TIM Sons of wcll-to-do
farmers of She old eleventh congressional
district In southern Illinois. We came
from the fields and workshops to enlist,
but we had too muc', sclf-rrspect to
serve under n drunken incompetent col
onel. We were brought up in an atmos.
phere of the most earnest loyalty and
repubiicanism. My father read the
New York Tribune in the family
circle from the year of its establishment.
So when the end of our three
months enlistment approached and Coy.
Yates wanted us to enlist again TO help
ill out the stale = quota OF the 10000 men
for three years called for in the presi-
dents proclamation, VIC simply said we
would ro-enlist under Colonel Good.
Our officers "a to Gov. Yates and told
him how the matter stood. The COVER
nor hen said: Gentleman, | will give
you Captain Grant for IL colonel. You
know him as the officer who mustered
you ia ut Mattoon.' We did know him
and such a favorable impression had he
made on officers and men during those
few days Mt Camp Grant, that there was
not a murmur at his being thus promoted
over the heads of the ten captains and
two field officers who outranked him.
Not even Lieutenant Colonel Alexander
showed the slightest jealousy, and he, |
think, rather expected the place himself,
as he didn't go to SEQ the government
with the rest OF the officers.
Grant ut that time was simply a cap
tain in the state militia. The way in
which he obtained that commission has
been narrated hundreds of times, but
never quite rightly, / think. As told to
me by Adiutant-General Fuller, the story
was as follows: Grant had been recon-
mended TO Governor Yates by Senator
Washburne. The governor tried TO use
him us a clerk, but saw thai he was fitted
for greater responsibilities; so one day
he said to tho acknowledgement: Fuller,
| have u man that | think you had better
take II hold of, telling him Grants name
and history. You need men in muster
ing in the troops. The state officers are
green at the business, and we can't call
on the regular army men, as it is a state
affair. This nan Grant will Just fit the
office So the first commission issued by
General Fuller was &c CAPTAIN Grant.
"Well Governor Yates kept his word
and gave Colonel Goods commission to
Grant. The latter put it in his pocket,
add dressed in n light blouse, with no
sword or insignia of rank, stepped into n
horsc-car and rode out to the fair
grounds, where the regiment vas en-
camped. Going TO the Adiutant's tent,
he SHOWED his commission and remarked
that he guessed he'd take command
Then he sat down to write an order or
w and strolled out to take n look about
camp. The first thing that caught his
eye was the camp guard, eighty strong
and armed with clubs, which Colonel
Good had created to keep the men from
climbing the fence and going INTO the
city to see the girls. His next order
abolished tho camp guard and told the
llltjl blEtb ttty WSlt iGuViftu ~ Dt pres
ent ut all roltcalls. An ordinary West
Pointer would have stopped there, think
ing it to he the business of the men TO
know when those r~oll-calls were. But
Grant never forget that he had 60 deal
with volunteers instead of regulars or
conScripts and he added a paragraphgiv-
ing the times of ~roll-call and reminding
the men that though they had become
soldiers they had not ceased to be citizens
and should exercise a manly selfrestraint
and not dishonor their citizenship. The
effect of that order was wonderful. There
was no more climbing the fence after
that.
II think that is q trait that has never
been strongly brought out before, and
genius. While educated ut West Point,
with all the rigid intlexibilIty of the mill
tary training ground into his nature so
that in the midst of battle as well as in
his own dying agonios he could hold all
his faculties down to the work in hand,
he was nothing of a martinez, buthandled
men as men and without any friction,
whatever their notions of personal de-
pendence and dislike for the restraints of
of discipline. lie was kind to his Subor-
dinateS, too. When jackson was trying
to get Missouri into the c~Onfedoracy the
Illinois regiments were ordered to that
state. There was no hurry about the
matter and Grant asked permission TO
march our regiment across the state 10
the Mississippi river, as we needed the
drill, And we did march as far ms
Naples on tho Illinois river, when orders
came 10 take the cars, One morning as
we broke camp, which had been pitched
for the night in a pasture lot, and filed
out into the road, | was walking ahead
of the regiment. 1 was on the Sick list
and out of the ranks. Colonel Grant saw
me, a private of G. company, n lad of |
eighteen. drndging along the road alone. |
Are you sick, my many' he asked. How
about The a~mbulanccg'
81 don't like the ambulance, sir L
replied.
"'Ah, then you can march II little, he |
said, but don't try f. do too much He
WAS loved and hOnored by every one of
the 600 men in that regiment.
ut was some time before Grant got his |
cOlonel,s uniform and until that came lao
knew his business too well TO take con-
mand ut dress parade. The lieutenant.
colonel was allowed to the
regiment. Once only he interfered and
the regiment its first order from the
new colonel, The adiutant had drawn
us up in line with one flank so near the
fence that there was no room for a bat