Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1885-12-19
GRNERAL GRANTS BOOK.


volume of General Grants neg book
which wss issued last week, and which
Is being delivered in this city. 1t il
written modestly. concisely and with q
smooth and easy flow of language which
charms the reader. Of his early days he
says:
While my father carried on the manu-.
facture of leather and carried on the
trade himself, he owned and titled con.
siderable land. 1 detested the trade,
pref ring almost any other labor; but l
was fond of agriculture and OF all en-
We had, among other lands, fifty acres
of forest within a mile of the village,
Ia the fall of the year choppers were
employed to cut enough wood to
last a twelvemonth. When I was or 8
years of age / began hauling all the
wood used in the house and shops. l
could not load it on the wagons of course
at that time, but could drive. and the
choppers would load and some one at
the house unload When / was about IL
years Old was strong enough to hold
pillow. From that age un il IL l did all
the work done with horses, such as
breaking up the land, furrowing, plow-
ing corn and potatoes, beginning in the
crops when harvested, hauling all the
wood, besides tending two or three
horses, a COW or two, and saving wood
for stoves, etc, while still attending
school. For this [ was CON-
pensated by the fact that there was
never any scolding or Furnishing by my
parents; no objection to rational enjoy
men,s, such as fishing, going to the creek
mile away to swim in summer, taking
. horse and visiting my grandparents in
the adjoining county, fifteen miles of,
skating on the ice in winter, or taking
horse and sleigh when there was snow
on the ground.
HOW ULYSSES WENT To WEST POINT.
He was put into the army without any
wish Of his own very much as he might
have been put to a job of hoeing corn.
"Ulysses," said his father abruptly, after
reading letter, II believe you are going
to receive the appointment" what ap-
pointmen;P" "To West Point; have ap-
piled for it." "But l won't CO." l said
He said he thought l would, and Il
thought 80 too, If he did" So he entered
the military academy without taste for 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 to escape from it as
soon as possible into professorship in
some respectable college. Grant speaks
ofhis personal experiences in Mexico
with characteristic modesty, but to those
who can read between the lines it is |
plain enough that the young second
lieutenant, hating the war. and not par
ticularly epamored with the profession,
was yet by no means content with per-
functory performance of strict duty.
AS 4 TACTICIAN.
One of General Grants early experien- |
ces in commanding his regiment in the
civil war is thus related by him:
While l was at West Point the tactics
used in the army had been SCOTS and |
the musket the flint lock. / had never
looked at a copy of tactics from the time
of my graduation. My standing in that
branch OF studies had been near the foot
of the class. In the Mexican war, in the
summer of 1916, l had been appointed
regimental q'Iartermaster and commits
sary and had not been at q battalion drill |
since. The arms had been changed
since then and Hardee's tactics
rxcEics and studied enc lesson, intend
ing to confne the exercise of the first
day to the commands had thus learned
By pursuing this course from day to day
1 thought l would soon get through the
volume. We were encamped Just out
side of town on the common, among
scattering suburban houses, with en-
closed gardens, and when got my regi-
ment in line and rode to the front l soon
saw that il attempted to follow the les
son had studied | would have to clear
away some Of the houses and garden
once, however, that Hardee's tactics-a
mere translation from the French with
Hardee's name attacheG-was nothing
more than common sense ami the pro-
gress of the age applied to ScOtt's system.
the movement expedited. Under the
old tactics almost every change in the
order of march was preceded by "halt,"
then came the change, then the forward
march, With the new tactics all these
changes could be made while in motion.
found no trouble in giving commands
that would take my regiment where l
wanted it to 60, and carry it around all
obstacles. do not believe that officers
of the regiment ever discovered that
had never studied the tactics that /
used.
OPINIONS ON PROMINENT BATTLES.
OF the battle of Shiloh General Grant
writes:
Shiloh was the severest battle fought {
at the west during the war, and but few
in the east equalled it for hard, determ.
med fighting. / saw An open field in our
possession on the second day, over which
the confederates had made repeated
charges the day before, so covered with {
dead that it would have been possible .
ws!k Access The c.eariNg ia any uIrec-
ton, stepping on dead bodies, without q
foot touching the ground.
OF the battle of Iuka Gen. Grant says:
Il was disappointed at the result, but
had SO high an opinion of Gen. Rose
Grams that found no fault at the time"
Of the subsequent battle OF Corinth he
says:
General Rosecrans, however, failed to
follow up the victory, although l had
given him specific orders in advance of
The battle for him to pursue the moment
The enemy was repealed.
Ofthe first check of the Vicksburg
General Grant says:
The surrender of Holly Springs was {
most reprehensible, and showed either
he disloyalty of Colonel Murphy to the
cause which he professed to serve, or
gross cowardice. I
ABOUT OTHER GENERALS.
General Worth, under whom Grant
served in Mexico, he described as "ner-
vrua imnationt and raatlooe nm tho | 4