Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1885-02-27
NO. g..


"Reminiscences OF General Grant.
A letter from DR.. Kittoe is going the rounds
OF the press in regard to Gen. Grants pro-
family. II gives to the public a different
view Of his character and II will be surpris-
ing to many TO know that the General never
utters profane word. l had this letter in
| my hand tonight when l met in the Ebbitt
House Mr.. MARYLAND, who was the head Of
the mail service Of Grants army, aud who
was q member of bis military family through.
out the war. He has known every one Of
prominence for the paststhree decades, aud
his mind is full Of personal and military rem
| iniscenoes
Mr.. MARYLAND said "Gen Grant never
swore, and in my long connection with him
have never heard him utter profane word.
l have been with bin on many occasions in
which, perhaps, the use Of profanity would
have been pardonabe. l have heard him
| tell in social circles stories in which oAths
have been always used, but in retelling them
he would not quote the oaths. He WAS freer
from using unkind expressions toward his
| fellow-man than any one l have ever known.
And the chief misfortunes of his life have
arisen from his misplaced confidence in his
fellow-man. Speaking OF profanity, re-
member one or two occasions on which Grant
should have sworn, and think would have
sworn il he could. One was while we we're
at Youngs Point, with headquarters on the
steamboat Magnolia. Twol of the staff off,
GERS had been sent North under orders, lpsv-
ing their rooms on the boat vacant. Gen.
Grant invited two officers on board one night
for consultation. During the consultation a
violent rainstorm came up, and Gen. Grant
asked these officers to remain on board over
night, saying that be had two rooms and that
1t would be more pleasant for them to stay
there than TO go to their camp in the storm.
The time for retiring arrived aud the officers
were shown to their rooms. When the doors
were opened, however, it was found that the
beds were occupied by the colored servants
of the officers who were absent. Gen Grant
was very angry, but his indignation did not
find vent in oaths he merely ordered these
servants out on shore into the rain, and in
short time, his Indignation having cooled, he
sent an orderly to tell them they could come
back upon the boat"
How did you become acquainted with
Gen. Grant ?" asked.
II knew him as boy at school. My
home was at Maysville, KY, and young
Grant came there boy of ~ or 13 to attend
the academy. He lived with his aunt in
Maysville, and was very quiet, retiring and
studious boy. As l remember him he was q
little chubby fellow with a round, freckled
face and sandy hair. He was a good-natured
boy and went by the name of Lyss. Short
ly after he left school he went to West Point,
and from that time did not meet him again
until in the fall of 1861 l was sent West in
connection with the post Office department.
In attending TO my business 1 was thrown in
with Gen. Grant at Cairo at about the time
he took command. Here l got my first
glimpse of him as a man. As an instance of
his remarkable memory of features, though
be could not have known l was coming to
Cairo, he recognized me at once one day
when was passing the window Of his head
quarters l did not recognize him. 1t did
not take US long to revive our old school fel-
lowship, and we became great friends. re-
mained about Cairo in my connection with
the post office department until about the
time Of the movement on Fort Henry. At
this time Gen. Grant asked me if l did not
want to see fight, and invited me to go to
Fort Henry with him. On the way 10 Fort
Henry, on the headquarters steamer New Un-
Gle Sam, knowing that was an officer of the
post office department, he suggested to me,
or rather inquired if it were not possible, to
keep the mail up to the army and to take the
soldiers letters home. On my answering
that thought that this could be done, he
gave me that branch of the service, and from
that beginning sprang the great army mail
service of the war, and TO Gen. Grant the
credit of originating that service belongs.
The army mail service developed the fact
that the mails could be distributed in railway
cars and on the top of railway cars going at
the rate of 80 miles an hour. In wagons,
ambulances, and even on horseback mails
were frequently distributed and delivered un-
der the murderous fire of the enemy and it
may be said that the perfect railway mail SER
vice Of to-day is the outgrowth of the army
mail service"
"What about Shiloh ?" 1 asked.
THAT is question of controversy which
any impression 1 may have will not settle.
Gen. Grant has recently published his views
of that battle. Whether they will settle the
question or not is uncertain. Stories of bat
ties are not told until all the actors are dead.
1t is sufficient that the battle was fairly won
by the Federal troops. Aud there should
have been no difficulty in dividing the honors
of the victory"
do you think Gen. Grant was surprised ?"
said l.
II state with postiveness, no, sir. Gen.
Grant was never surprised. No man ever
saw Gen. Grant speak or act as if he we're
surprised. His staff officers would try to see
if they could not get him to exhibit surprise
or astonishment at some of their stories or
by extravagant statements. They never sue
ceeded. When every one else was surprised
he never gave any indication that the matter
of the surprise was not perfectly familiar to
him. In the most trying times he was the
coolest and most self-possessed. On one oc-
casion 400 tons of powder in a barge lying
at the waters edge in the James river imme-
diately opposite Grants headquarters at City
Point, was exploded by an internal machine
of the Confederates, blowing the bodies of
men and mules and the debris of the quar-
termasters department into his camp, so that
the air was thick with smoke and falling bod
les, and every one was frightened. Grant
did not move a facial muscle. With imper-
tursble gravity he said to a staff officer, Bah
cock go out and see what is the matter
Nothing ever disturbed Grants equanimity.
He never lost his head. You might tell him
the most startling news in regard to the enc
my, but his face would never indicate that
it was news to him. If he was ignorant of
matter about which you were talking, he
would draw you out in such quiet way that
you would never imagine that the whole mat
ter was not perfectly familiar to him."