Evening star., 1895-11-09
SETTING HISTORY STRAIGHT.
RecollectiOns of Grant MT Galena,
Where the War Broke Out.

Recollections of Grant mt Galena,
Where the War Broke Out.
Written foc The Evening Star.
In The Star of October % find an editor
ial, THE Perversion Of History" citing
how Philadelphia papers have been imposed
upon by space writers in their fad for pic
turesQue history. In defense of the above
papers let me say that they are not the only
ones that lend themselves to such articles
On the 9th Of last August The Star printed
almost column of said history, tax IN from
the indianapolis Sentinel, called Grant at
Galena. How the Raw Recruits Found the
Man Of Destiny. One Suggested that he
Would Teach Them the Rudiments Of the
Art of War" Allow me to point out some of
the picturesque, very mild name for it,
portions OF that article. First, 1t says two
companies were formed within less than
three days after the call for troops, and that
Grant drilled them for weeks" I can safely
say that but one company was in existence
when Grant left for Springfield, ILL.,, and l
think it is natter of bona fide histo " that
Grant went and offered his services to Gov.
Yates on or about the 10Th of April, 80 you
see he could not have drilled even the one
company for weeks as Fort Sumter was hot
fired on until the morning of April y, 1861.
Second, the store of Grants IS alluded to
as being a commonplace frame store room
while say, without fear of contradiction
that it was built of Milwaukee brick. Third,
1t goes on to say, "the man of destiny was
found sitting on box under the old board
awning ir the shade from an afternoon
sum-" while, as matter of fact, the store
had no kind of an awning and the months of
April and May of that year were anything
but warm enough to allow of any one sit
ting out for the pleasure of it, mucn less
wanting to shield themselves from a bit of
April sunshine. I think 1t was on the 2lst
of May in that year when we had a very
heavy snow storm.
Fourth, it speaks of the firm name being
Grant and Brother when in realty it
was G. r. Grant. One item the article men
in the closing paragraph, Grant was then,
as he was ever afterward known to be,
man or rev words,' and yet, further on,
mark the superabundance of them in the
following quotations. 1 will not dispute
them, as have no proof that they are not
exactly as reported, but one can see for
themselves how little the above applies to
the said interviews: THAT is enough gentle
men,, was Grants crisp and characteristic
reply, IN interruption, these are not the
times for words; 1t is action; vigorous, de-
cisive action that Is needed. In plain
terms, l understand you want me to become
your drillmaster. Is that the fact?' Yes,
sir, replied the committee. in unison. Very
well, then, SO be it. shall expect you to
muster on the public square within an hour
from this time. I shall drill you twice each
day till you go to join your regiment. 1 shall
expect you to consider that am your COM
manding officer. and I shall expect a disci-
PhHo WINCH VIII KNOW no TeidXdtlon In tnlS
I shall demand of you that you become SOL
diers from the very start. That is all. Now
go. l shall meet you within the hour And
again. when Sergeant Pringle meets his
drillmaster on the street and said Good
day, MI. Grant," the article tells how "he,
Grant, never opened his lips, but with
cold and expressionless cast of countenance
passed on" Then 1.-The next day 1 was
passing the little tannery and he stood in
the door. he called me to stop. and 1 went
up to where he was standing. Sergeant
Pringle, he said, you realize that you are
an enlisted soldier in the service of your
country. do you notT Yes SIR I replied.
You understand by this time that the ne
cessity for perfect discipline must be con-
come good soldier do you not?' Yes, sir
was all could say, but for the life of me
could not conceive what he was driving at.
Very well, Sergeant Pringle,' he said, with
considerable emphasis, L wish to remind
you that you met me yesterday on the street;
that l. as the drillmaster of your company,
am your superior officer; that before ad-
dinate to salute me before opening your
lips. l did not notice you simply for the
reason that wished to convey to YOU a
lesson in that military etiquette which you
will have to observe If you ever expect to
come up to the standard of perfect soldier
Now take this home to yourself and realize
that 1t was not out of any lack of regard for
you that cut you when you spoke to me
on the street " Does 1t sound reasonable
that II Grant as their drillmaster was such
strict disciplinarian he would have let such
breech Of etiquette go unnoticed for hours?
1t seems to me that his directness of char
acter would have led him to reprimand the
ity of speech would couch 1t in fewer words
i