Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-06-10
GRANTS "pERsoNAL MEMOIRS. ;,
Details of His Early Life and Incidents
of the Rebellion.

llOiics hdlilltN ait, NUN W NUN AlS 10
descended in the eighth generation, reached
Dorchester, Mass, in 1880, from Dorchester,
Eng. His great grandfather. Noah Grant,
held Il commission in the British army,
and his grandfather, also named Noah,
served in the war of the Revolution. He
gives anecdotes of his boyhood, his appoint
ment TO West Point through the influence
of Hon. Thomas Morris Congressman from
Ohio; tells the circumstances under which
he first saw General Scott and President
Van Buren,; contrasts the personal charac-
| teristicS of Generals Scott and Taylor gives
a copy of his letter to Adjutant-General
Thomas, dated at Galena, Ill, May "A, 1861,
offering his services to the United States
and suggesting that he considered himself
competent to take command of regiment.
This letter was never replied 10, and was
for long time lost among the papers of
the War Office.
THE GENERALS FIRST BATTLE.
Speaking of his first battle in the civil
war, he says LAS we approached the brow
of hill, from which it was expected we
| could see Harris camp and possibly find
his men ready formed to meet us, my
heart kept getting higher and higher until
it felt to me as though it was in my throat.
l would have given anything then 10 have
| been back i'll Illinois, but | had not the
| moral courage 10 MATT anu COlSiuSI W lIdt "
| do. | kept right on. When we reached a
point from which the valley below was in
full view l halted. The place where Har-
ris had been encamped for few days be-
| fore was still there, and the marks of a
recent encampment were plainly visible,
but the troops were gone. My heart
resumed its place. 1t occurred to me at
once that Harris had been as much afraid
of me as | had been of him. This was
view of the question | had never taken be-
fore, but ii was one | never forgot after
wards From that event to the close of
| the war l never experienced trepidation
upon confronting an enemy"
DoNELsoN AND SHILOH.
He speaks of the battle of Fort Donelson
at some length. Speaking of the battle OF
Shiloh, he says he considered the situation
as one in which the Federal forces were on
the offensive but states that no precautions
| for defense were neglected. On this subject
he continues as follows: General Beau
regard was next in rank to Johnston, and
succeeded to the command, which he re-
| tanned until the close of the battle and dur
| ing the subsequent retreat on Corinth, as
| well as in the siege of that place. His tao
| tics have been severely criticised by Con-
| federate writer's but | do not believe that
| his fallen chief could have done any better
under the circumstances. Some OF these
critics claim that Shiloh was won when
| Johnston fell, and that if he had not fallen
| the army under me would have been ami
hilated or captured. There is little doubt
that we should have been disgracefully
beaten at Shiloh if all the shells and bullets
| fired by us had passed harmlessly over the
enemy, and if all theirs had taken effect
| Commanding Generals are liable to be
killed during engagements, and the fact
| that when he was shot Johnston was lead
| ing brigade TO induce it to make charge
which had been repeatedly ordered, is evil
| dence that there was neither the universal
| decentralization on our side nor the I'M
| bounded confidence on theirs which hes
| been claimed. There was in fact, no hour
| during the day when | doubted the eventu-
| al defeat of the enemy although | was dis
appointed that TIE reintorcements so near
| at hand did not arrive at an earlier hour
JUSTICE To GENERAL M'CooK.
In this connection, he refers to his ar
| ticles in the Century and his remarks in it
| in regard to General McCook, which have
caused 50 much public comment. He
| tells of the long march of the day before
| over muddy roads by General McCook's
| division; of its " conspicuous acts of gal
| lantry" on the day Of the battle, and con-
| cludes in these words . refer to these
| circumstances with minuteness because /
did General McCook injustice in my article
| in the Century,, though not to the extent
one would suppose from the public press.
| am not willing 10 do any one aninjustice,
and if convinced that ! have done one,
am always willing to make the fullest adj
| mission
| FIRST INTERVIEW WITH LINCOLN.
| Then follow the accounts of the siege
and capture of Nicksburg; of his appoint
| ment as Lieutenant and he adds:
] " In my first interview with Mr.. Lincoln
alone, he stated to me that he had never
| protested to be a military man or to know
/ how campaigns should be conducted, and
never wanted to interfere with them, but
| that the procrastination on the part of the
| commanders and pressure of the people at
| the North and OF Congress- which, like the
| poor, he had always with him, had forced
| him into issuing his well-known series of
| executive orders. He did not know but
they were all wrong. All he wanted, or
ever wanted, he said, was that some one
would take the responsibility and act and
| call on him for all the assistance needed
| THE MISSISSIPPI CAMPAIGN.
In describing his command of the Di-
vision Of the Mississippi he tells how he
met Secretary Stanton at indianapolis;
| how they went to Louisville, andEadds:
| Soon after we started the Secretary hand
ed me two orders. saying l could take my
choice of them. The two were identical
except in one particular Both created the
! military division of the Mississippi, giving
me command, composed Of the depart
ments of Ohio, the Cumberland and the
| Tennessee, and all the territory from the
Alleghanies to the Mississippi north of
| Banks command in the southwest. One
order left the department commanders as
they were while the other relieved Rose
Grams and assigned Thomas to his place.
| accepted the latter" He says that Sec
rotary Stanton caught cold on that trip
from which he never recovered.
HOW CHATTANOOGA WAS SAVED.
He gives a graphic description of how
Chattanooga was saved; of how..he was sent
for in haste at night by Secretary Stanton,
whom he found pacing the floor rapidly in
about the garb Jefferson Davis was wearing
subsequently, when he was captured-a
dressing gown, but without the shawl and
sun bonnet. General Grant adds HE
showed me dispatch showing that re-
treat must be prevented. | Immediately
wrote an order assuming command of the |
military division of the Mississippi and
telegraphed it to General Rosecrans. l tel !
egraphed an order from Washington as
signing to Thomas the Army of the Cum
berland, and to Thomas that he must hold
Chattanooga at all hazards"
He describes the Wilderness campaign, |
and estimates Lees strength at $4,000 men, |
and says that he was operating in a country |
with which his army was thoroughly famil- |
lar while to the Federal forces it was en-
tirely unknown.
THE SURRENDER OF LEE.
He tells of Lees surrender and takes oc- |
casion in it to describe the famous sur |
render under the apple tree. He says that |
there was an apple orchard across the val |
ley from the Courthouse, one tree of which i
was close to the roadside, and that General |
Babcock reported to him Grant that he |
had found General Lee sitting under this |
tree, and had brought him within the Fed |
eral lines to the house of man named |
Mclean, where the Confederate General |.
and others of the staff were waiting for
General Grant. OF their interview he says
when | went into the house found Cen
eral Lee. We greeted each other, and after
shaking hands took our seats. What his
feelings were | do not know. Being man
of much dignity, and with an impenetra-
BILE face, it was impossible to say neither
he felt inwardly glad that the end had
finally come or whether he felt sadly over
the result and was too manly to show it.
Whatever his feelings were they were en-
tirely concealed from observation but my