The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-07-26
"REMINISCENCES OF THE GENERAL.
How He Appeared at Vicksburg-His Kind
ness to- Those About Him.

How He Appeared at Vicksburg-ITis Kind
ness to Those About Him.
DR.. f. A. Duncan. in Louisville Courier-JournaI
How did General Grant appear before Vicks.
burgl'
"As plain as an old stove. 1t was hard to
make the new troops believe that 1t was him as
he rode over the field. He wore common
soldiers blouse frizzled out at the bottom, and
cavalry pants stuffed in his boots. He wore
low-crowned black hat without so much as
gold cord. The simplest maj generals straps
were the only thing about his dress that told his
rank. He always rode a splendid horse, how.
over, and the trappings of the steed were always
in full uniform. But that was due to his order.
ly more than anything else. He delighted in
good horse. He usually kept six of them on
hand-two or three in the field at the same time.
His favorite war horse was of the noted old Lex
ington, of Kentucky, stock, and think he called
him Lexington"
Was the General luxurious liver''
by no means He enjoyed a good meal rs much
anyone, but never complained of what was set
before him. He would have been satisfied with
hardtack and sow belly. He did rot drink
drop of liquor during the siege of Vickshurg. He
had promised General Rawlns, afterwards his
chief OF staff and Secretary of War; at Shiloh, to
abstain. He never broke over but once from
that day to the close Of the war, and that was
accidental. A banquet was given to him and
General Banks after the fall of Vicksburg, at
New Orleans and in the conviviality Of the hour
he took few glasses of wine"
'How did the General treat those about hm3'
with the greatest kindness and respect. He
had less egotism than any great man ever saw.
He was eager to give every man a full measure
OF praise and appreciation for what he did. He
would even hunt out what each man merited.
| One element of his greatness was his desire to
| pull up his friends with him. It never occurred
pl Of orx-a
always spoke of his victories as due to this that
| and the other General. He was the best balan-
ced man ever saw. never once saw him
alted oy the most glowing success nor depressed
| by failure. He took things as they came He
| had more of the qualities that inspire hero wor-
| ship than any one ever came into contact
with. Such man does not appear but once in
an age. lie rarely ever used profane word.
| When angry, which was rare, he the oppo-
site of other men. He would then knit his
brows compress his lips. and speak slowly"
what day did he enter VicksburgP
1.-The 4th of July. General Pemberton wanted
| him to enter the day before but he replied No
| have been waiting to celebrate the 4th.' The
| first thing he did was to issue abundant rations
| and parole the prisoners: That was master
| stroke to parole them, for had he sent them
North they would have been aetremendous ex-
| pense to the government, and soon as
| exchanged they would have returned to the rebel
ranks. AS it was they were glad to so home and
| remain on their parole"
| pathy with General Grant,!
"Assuredly. remember to have heard Gen
eral sherman use remarkable sentence in
speaking of his chief. Said he: "The thing that
makes General Grant so great is, that it is i'm
possible to cucumber him with men or RESPONSE
bilites He could command million
men II you could get field big enough Gen.
eral Graut commanded the longest line of battle
ever fought in the history of the world-that is
Mission Ridge, seven miles. Fighting was gong
on that entire length at once The General
sat quietly by little telegraph instrument and
ordered commander after commander to develop
what was IN front Of him. He always knew
what he was doing. lie once ordered certain
general whose name will not give, to make
an assault The general, who did not want him
to succeed, replied: II fully comprehend your
order, but to carry it out is the destruction of
my army" General Grant instantly sat down
and wrote II am glad you comprehend my or
der; obey it. Victory was the result"
General Grant was the first one to discover
the brilliant fighting and commanding quail
ties of John A. Logan. 1t is mistake that
any Of General Logan's preferment cane from
political centers-he won it all on the field with
his sword under General Grants eye They
had absolute faith in each other, and were
as affectionate as brothers. There was no man
north OF Mason and DiXon's line that SO quickly
forgot the bitterness engendered by the war
No one had higher appreciation of the valor
and brilliancy Of the Southern soldiers He
said Lees army of Northern Virginia had never
been eXcelled OF earth"
'Where did you first see General Grant,"
"At Galena Ill, before the war; he was sit
ting in front of his fathers tannery whiting
and smoking small pipe. He cared nothing for
business. He had no idea of its details He
would not have known piece of bank paper
from Chinese wash bill. Captain Grant as he
was then called, looked about as old then as he
did four years ago. when I saw MIN last"
did you live in Ilnos!"
Yes, I practiced medicine within twenty
miles of the General"