The National tribune., 1885-06-25
NATIONAL WASHINGTON G., THURSDAY

Army including four years at West Point and feel
ing it the duty of every one who has been educated
at the Government expense to offer their services
| for the support of that Government l have the
| honor, very respectfully, TO tender my services,
until the close of the war, in such capacity may
| be offered. would say III view OF my present age
and lenghth of service, feel myself competent to
command a regiment if the President. in his judg-
Since the first call of the President have been
serving the staff of the Governor OF this State,
rendering such aid as could in the organization OF
State militia, and am still engaged in that
| pacity. letter addressed to me at Springfield,
| Ill, viii reach me.
am, very respectfully, your obedient servant.
| U. s. GRANT.
This letter failed to elicit an answer from
the Adjutant- General of the Army. presume
| it was hardly read by him, and certainly it
could not have been submitted to higher au-
| thOrity. Subsequent to the war Gen. Badeau,
having heard of this letter, applied to the War
| Department for copy of it. The letter could
not be found, and no one recollected ever
having seen it. / took no copy when it was
written.
HIS FIRST ENGAGEMENT.
| OF his first engagement in the rebellion lie
writes:
As soon as they saw US they decamped as fast
| as their horses would carry them. kept my
men in the ranks, and forbade them entering
any of the deserted houses, or taking anything
| from them. We halted at night on the road,
and proceeded the next morning at an early
hour. Harris had been encamped in a creek
| bottom for the sake of being near water. The
| hills on either side of the creek extended to a
considerable hight, probably more than 100
| feet. Aswe approached the brow of the hill,
from which it was expected we could see Har-
rs's 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 any
thing then to have been back in Illinois, but l
| had not the moral courage to halt and consider
what to do; l kept right on. When We
reached point from which the valley below was
! in full view halted The place where Harris
| had been encamped few days before 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 before; but it
was one never forgot afterward From that
| event to the close Of the war l never expert
enced trepidation upon confronting an enemy.
INCIDENTS OF THE REBELLION.
| Following are other interesting incidents
| that occurred during the rebellion:
| At the battle of Belmont, feeling that the
| enemy we had seen crossing the river below
| might be coming upon us unawares, rode
| out in the field to our frOnt-still entirely
alone-to observe whether the enemy was
| passing. The field was grown up with corn SO
| tall and thick as to cut Off the view of even a
| person on horseback, except directly along the
rows. Even in that direction, owing to the
overhapging blades of corn, the view was not
| extensive. / had not gone more than few
hundred yards when ! saw body of troops
marching past me, not so yards away. looked
at them for a moment and then turned my
| horse toward the river and started back, first
! in, IL ,,,1 ,hnn rrhf
cealed from the view of the enemy, as fast as
my horse could carry me. When at the river
bank still had to ride a few hundred yards to
the point where the nearest transport lay.
| The cornfield in front of our transports ter
minated at the edge of dense forest. Before
got back the enemy had entered this forest,
and had opened a brisk fire upon the boats. Our
men, with the exception of details that had
gone to the front after the wounded were now
| either aboard the transports or very near them
Those who were not on board soon got there,
and the boats pushed off. l was the only man
of the National army between the rebels and
our transports The Captain of g boat that had
just pushed out but had not started, recognized
me and ordered the engineer not to start the
engine. He then had plank run out for me-
My horse seemed to take in the situation.
There was no path down the bank, and every
one acquainted with the Mississippi River
knows that its banks in a natural state, do not
vary at any great angle from the perpendicu-
lar. My horse put his fore feet over the bank
without hesitation or urging and, with his hind
feet well under him, slid down the bank and
trotted aboard the boat, 12 or Is feet away over
single gang plank. l dismounted and went
at once tC the upper deck.
The Mississippi was low on the 7th of Sep
tember, 1861, so that the banks were higher
than the heads of men standing on the upper
decks of the steamers. The rebels were some
distance back from the river, so that their fire
was high and did us but little harm. Our
smOkestack was riddled with bullets but there
were only three men wounded on the boats and
but one of these was soldier. When l first
went on deck l entered the Captains room, ad
joining the pilot house, and threw myself on a
sofa. did not keep that position moment,
but rose to go out on the deck to observe what
was going on. had scarcely left when mus
ket ball entered the room, struck the head of
the sofa, passed through and lodged in the
foot.
At the siege of Fort Donelson, when the men
found themselves without ammunition, they
could not stand up against troops who seemed to
have plenty of it. The division broke and a por
tion fed, but most of the men, as they were not
pursued, only fell back out of range OF fire Of
the enemy. 1t must have been about this time
that Thayer pushed his brigade in between the
enemy and those of our troops that were with
out ammunition. At all events the enemy fell
back within its intrenchments and was there
when arrived on the field.
i saw the men standing in knots, talking in
the most excited manner No officer seemed to
be giving any directions. The soldiers had
their muskets but no ammunition, while there
were tons OF it close at hand. l heard some of
the men say that the enemy had come out with
his knapsacks and haversacks filled with ra-
tions. They seemed to think this indicated q
determination on his part to stay out and fight
just as long as the provisions held out. l turned
to Col. j. ID. Webster, of my staff who was with
me, and said: Some of our men are pretty
badly demoralized, but the enemy must be
more so, for he has attempted to force his way
out, but has fallen back: the one who attacks
first now will be victorious and the enemy
will have to be in hurry if he gets ahead of
me-"
l determined to make the assault at once on
our left. 1t was clear to my mind that the
enemy had started to march out with his en-
tire force, except a few pickets. and if our
attack could be made on the left before the
enemy could redistribute his forces along the
line we would find but little opposition except
from the intervening abatis. l directed Col
Webster to ride with me and call out to the
men as we passed: Fill your cartridge-bOX
quick and get into line; the enemy is trying
to escape, and he must not be permitted to do
So" This acted like charm. The men only
wanted some one to give them command.
We rode rapidly to Smiths quarters, when
explained the situation to him, and directed
him to charge the enemy's works in his front
with his whole division saving at the