, 1885-05-16
lsroRss ABOUT GRANT.
An important yrait of the Generals Char.
aoirr- Always That Way.

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An important Trait Of the Generals Char
acirr- Always That Way.
iIafer oresn 'cuHtsiona crnyonA~lnfn
Everybody is telling stories about
Graft said an old man to me, but in
some way they have failed to bring out
Just right one very important trait OF
character. There neser was anything
very picturesque about the old man,
but he always surprised the boys on the
home stretch. He could not DO impress
sive to save himself, and l believe that
if the boys had one grievance against
Gen. Grant which they cling to it Is
thai he never made good use OF his OPP
%portunities.
~ remember when he rode along tho
lines at shiloh with Buell. and Nelson
and the others on the second day OF the
battle that he failed to come up to the
expectations OF the men in the way Of
taking his proper place. Looking at
the men on the g%alloping horses, one
would naturally have supposed that
Buell., stately and brnsque, OF Nelson,
pompous and full OF the war spirit,
was the leader, and that the watchful,
quiet, modest Grant was the subordi-
nate.
"Df course this impression was dis
PEELED the moment Grant spoke, but he
did not seem to care TO have anybody
know that he was in command Of the
army, while the other men were q little
anxious that it should be understood
that they were commanders of divisions
or Of armies. The boys thought Grant
ought to be kicked fer not putting on
more style. They thought he was not
proud enough Of either his army or
what it was doing.
II wa always this way. When he
tooS command of the armies in the
west he went slipping into Chattanooga
rs quietly as though he had been under
arrest. The morning after his arrival
l was n of a band OF soldiers engaged
in %tnmbling boxes Of crackers into the
wagons of a supply train. We did not
like the work; We were not taking much
pains to place the boxes right in the
wagon; WI wanted to get them in
and go. u
As / dropped one box in a little
recklessly u quiet, shrinking sort OF a
man. who had boon roaming about the
platform, said with incisive firmness,
That won't do, men. Those crackers
are going TO men who are starving.
Every cracker is precious, and the more
uoAts YOU Bet lHlo luc MdBoH luo nlOtu
hungry men you will feed tonight !
looked up with the idea OF telling the
speaker to go to blRzes, when my eyes
caught sight OF two stars on his
shoulder.
~ then looked closely at the face and
the figure and / knew that | stood in
the presence of Gen. Grant. | climbed
into the wagon without a word, rear
ranged all the boxes while the general
stood there making suggestions and
pointing ont with his cane little changes
that could be made in arrangement.
The clerk who was experimenting tho
loading Of the wagons was a more i'm
pressive figure as he strobe in his auto
cratic way up and down the platform
than was the commander of the armies
OF the west, but | tell You the boys
froze to Grant" q
when Grant was in Chicago three or
four years ago" said an army official,
''he lounged about Sheridan's headquar-
tiers n good deal. His son Fred was at
that time on Sheridan's staff, but was
absent II day, and Grant took his
place at Fred's desk, and looked after
the business. A nervous, hdgety, ir-
ritable old fellow came in to inquire for
some paper that he had left with Fred.
When he stated his case Grant took up
the matter in a sympathetic way, and
proceeded after the manner of an over
anxious clerk to look the paper up.
The document could not be found,
and Grant, apologizing, walked with the
old gentleman to the door. As l walked
down the stairs with the Modified visi-
tor he turned and asked, ''WhO
is that old codgerl He is
the politest clerk | ever saw at
military headquarters. l hope Sheridan
will keep him l answered quietly,
That is Gen. Grant The hdgety old
gentleman, after staring at me for a full
minute, said with considerable fervor,
4 will give you so cents If you will kick
me downstairs. ~