The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1885-05-22
Grant as a Smoker.

The cancer of the throat which is
slowly but surely eating away the life
of Gen. Grant, has by some medical
authorities been attributed to the in
v~eterate smoking for which the hero
of Appomattox is noted. Others again
ridicule the theory. The subject is
one that has received considerable dis.
cussion in the medical journals.
In the popular imagination Gen.
Grant has always been associated with
a cigar. He has been called the great.
est smoker in the world. 1t is a mark
ed popularity of the man. When at
The Hague, on his tour around the
world, at the dinner rendered in honor
by the Dutch King, cigars were either
omitted in the menu, or perhaps it
was thought discOurteous to smoke in
the presence of royalty. When Gen.
Grant was, therefore, observed to take
a cigar from his pocket and comolac-
emily light tin the presence of the
King, there was a murmur of surprise.
''But, then, sit was said, ''he is a
great nan very great man." In
the simplicity of the Dutch Court it was
thought probably that none but the
very great would dare to smoke on
such an occasion. 1t is generally be-
lieved that Gen. Grant has been an in
cessant smoker ever since his boyhood.
1t may be news to many TO learn that
it is only since the famous battle of
Shiloh that the General became so fond
of the weed. A Commercial Gazette
reporter, in conversation with an in
innate Cincinnati friend of Grant, was
told the story of the "cigar."
The General, in speaking to his Gin
cinnati friend of the popular idea that
he was a lifelong smoker, said that
prior to the battle of Shiloh he rarely
very rarely-smoked; that only once
in a great while did he stake q
smoke" and that it had never been a
habit, much less a pleasure. At the
battle of Shiloh he CHANGED to smoke q
cigar, while riding over the field, and
the newspaper correspondents, seizing
upon the incident, described it graphi-
caIly in their accounts of the battle to
the papers in the North. The idea of
a victorious commander of a great
army, in the midst of frightful scenes
of carnage and destruction, surround
ed by the dangers OF battle, with a
nations life hanging on the result,
looking on calmly and serenely-com-
placently smoking a cigar-when most
men would be overcome with excite
ment, if not nervousness, vas some
thing that appealed irresistibly to
popular admiration. Here vas a man
who was not to be frightened by the
dangers of war; who knew that In war
the mass of men are almost frantic
with fire of battle; that it meant death
and destruction; that this was the BUSH
ness of war; and the GOODNESS of his
mind seemed TO say: 1.-THE only way
to do is to strike blow upon blow, and
thus crush the rebellion
1t was not the idea of a butcher, but
the idea Of war, and the mistake of the
Army Of the Potomac was in net recog-
nizing it and failing to follow up a
victory, or Leaving its work only half
finished" as Gen. Grant expresses it,
for fear that there would be greater
losses.
Grants admirers and friends, read
ing the accounts of the battle, suppos-
ed him to be a great smoker, and al
most deluged him with cigars. Every
express brought boxes of cigars as
presents from his Northern friends.
AS the General said, There were al
ways two or three boxes on the table
in my tent or headquarters free for the
use of my staff and visitors. Having
them always at hand, it was but natu-
raj that / should every little while take
d fresh cigar, and in that way the
habit grew upon me so that it became
irresistible, and the people no doubt
are right in calling me an inveterate
smoker. - Cincinnati Commercial Ga.
zehe.
SyLo ~ a. Dor< - nsxo