St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1885-06-20
THE SOLDIERS STORY.
Extract From Advance Sheets of
General Grants Memoirs.
The Life, Public Service and Battles of the
Old Commander, Affectionately
Dedicated to The Boys Who
Fought With Him.

NEW YORK, June 9.-The Commercial
Advertiser publishes extracts from Gen.
eral Grants forthcoming book, which will
be entitled "Personal Memoirs of q. S.
Grant, The book will be in two vol
umes of about five hundred pages each.
The first volume and nearly all the sec.
ond are now written. The book will, il
is claimed, contain the inside history OF
several important operations hitherto
undivulged or incorrectly described. The
dedication of the work is in the following
words:
ssThe volumns are dedicated to the
American soldier and sailor.
Tsignedl U. S. GRANT.
s'New York, May %, 1885,"
In describing his origin, General Grant
says he is of the eighth generation in
descent from Matthew Grant, who came
to America from Dorchester, Eng, In
1880, and settled at Dorchester, Mass.
General Grants grandfather, Noah
Grant, was an officer in the English
army in the war of 1856 against the
French and Indians, and his grandfather,
Moan Nfdnty tOuSAt IL JIG ACFoIdIAOA
against England.
Grant was born at Point Pleasant,
Ohio. He received his appointment at
West Point through Hon. Thomas Nor
ris, Senator from Ohio. The fact that
he had no early learning toward military
life is shown by his at first wishing to
refuse the appointment. His father, a
man not to to be refused, told him to
90, and he went. His reluctance arose
from a fear that he would not pass
the examination. On May oath, 1861,
Grant wrote to the Adiutant- General,
Offering the Government his military
service in any capacity. No notice was
taken of the letter, and it is not preserved
in the files of the War Department. Cen
eral Grant, in describing his first meeting
with the enemy, when he commanded
regiment, navely admits that he was
very much frightened. On seeing the re-
treat of the opposition force without
awaiting attack, the idea struck him that
their commander was probably as much
frightened as he was. This view of the
matter remained in his mind, and he
never thereafter felt trepidation in the
presence of the enemy. In his comments
| upon the discussed battle of
| Shiloh, General Grant dissents from the
| idea that if johnson had not been
! killed the Coufederates would have
won and annihilated Grants army. He
! remarks: "Ifs' defeated the Confeder-
| ates at Shiloh. We should have been dis
| gracefully beaten '"if'' all the bullets
fired by us had passed harmlessly over
the enemy and s'if" all of theirs had
that Johnston was leading the brigade to
| induce it to make a charge which had
been repeatedly ordered is evidence that
there was neither the universal
Generalization on our side nor
i the unbouuded confidence on theirs
which has been claimed. There
was, in fact, no hour during the day
when doubted the eventual defeat OF
tfn anamv
Grant says that Colonel William Preston
Johnson's description of the battle is
very graphic, and causes the reader to
wonder why the Federal troops were not
all killed. 81 witnessed the fight"
somewhat sarcastically adds the Gen
eral / see but lit le in the description
/ that can recognize. The Confederate
troops fought well, and deserve COM
mendation enough for their bravery and
endurance on the 9Th of April, without
detracting from their antagonists
or claiming any more than
| their due" The =, General makes
amends to General Arson D. McCook, by
explaining remark in his Century arti-
Gle on Shiloh to the effect that McCook
was was unwilling to pursue the
enemy on April 18th, because of the
condition of his troops. General Grant
says the remark has been misinterPreted.
He sustained McCook and merely men
| 4I>a Frn ffo,n - II -fr@
He then pays a high tribute to McCook' IS
gallantrY. General Grant first met Lin
coin when called to Washington to re-
| General in March, 1884. In my first
interview with Mr.. Lincoln, he
stated to me that he had never
professed to be military man, or to
know how campaigns should be conduct
ed, and never wanted to interfere in them,
but that procrastination on the part OF
commanders and pressure of the people
at the North, and of Congress, which,
like the poor, he had always with him,
had forced him into issuing his we'll.
known series of executive orders. He
did not know but that they were all
wrong, and did not know that some OF
them were. ALI he wanted, or ever had
wanted, he said, was that some
one would take the responsibility
and act, and call upon him
for all the assistance needed
Grant first met Stanton at Louisville.
Stanton handed him two orders, saying
he could take his choice. Both created
a military division of the Mississippi
giving Grant command of it, and were
identical, but that one left the depart.
ment commanders as they were, while
the other relieved Rosecrans and assigned
Thomas to his place. 81 accepted the
latter" says General Grant. Afte1
Rosecrans' defeat at Chickam auga and re