The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-04-21
GENERAL GRANT.
Some of the Traits of Character That
Made Him Truly Great.
,rthwestern { Christian Advocate.


Northwestern Christian Advocate.
Had he survived General Grant would be
seventythree years old April 27. 1895. He
died in August of 1886, and was then but a
little more than sixty-three years old.
No one statesman or general saved the
Republic during the rebellion. BY the
blessing Of God the people saved the Ma
ton from dismemberment. Grant had SUI
pereminence, and his frank. greatness is
shown no more magnifcently in any in
STAGE than when he wrote to General Sher-
man, in 1864, just as he was going to
Washington to receive, in person, his COM
mission as lieutenant-g general, a letter in
which the generous Grant said AZ want
to express my thanks to you and McPher-
son, as the men to whom, above all others,
/ feel indebted for, whatever have had of
success In the same letter he said, in
general: No one feels more than / how
much of success is due to the energy and
skill of those whom it has been my good
fortune to have occupying subordinate po-
sitions under me-" Grant, in honor pre-
ferred others before himself. Small men,
promoted by accidental success may
capture cities now and then, but they cam
not gracefully or genuinely praise other
men,
There is pathos in this rare generosity
Grant knew what it is to be neglected.
where he was made captain of company
Of volunteers which he took into camp at
patriot, but he knew little about war organ
iZation. When Grant arrived the Governor
vas reminded that he had been lieutenant
in the regular army, and was complimented
Chepuitepec, Mexico, in 1917. The young Of II
hcer was therefore employed to muster and
organize the raw forces which poured into
the capital The man is now living in Chi
cago General ChetIain) who urged Governor.
"A Grrit h Ia -,
his rank and experience. He was according
ly appointed to a new but excessively un-
PEELED into efficiency and sober obedience
by an immediate, brisk, and healthfula
march overland from it's Illinois rendezvous
promotion soon followed. and before the end
of that year of 1861 the country began to
hear about the sturdy officer, He was soon
in command at Cairo, and the capture of
Forts Henry and Donelson during the fol-
Buckner asked terms of capitulation he re- re-
ceived the reply that there were mo terms
other than an unconditional surren6er"
That response gave rise to his significant
appellation, Unconditional Surrender
Grant" which immense verbal tribute is
the key to the man and his military history
The country knows the record He was an
iron man. and he ground rebellion beneath
the iron heel of national indignation against
those who made war upon their own coun-
try in the dwarfng interests of human
between japan and China began an am A peade
can correspondent had an interview with
4 Hung cns ne Wha ha5 been otS sailed the
the. great peace representative. of China
said sadly. "Ah, my great friend, and that
is dead" Such leaders promptly recognize
each other. 1t will be remembered that
when Grant was making his trip, around
Japan and China in bitter controversy
which, doubtless, was a precursor of and
an element in the present bloody struggle
between those nations. Few of the sgnifi-
cant sentences which have fioated to us
across those carmine seas of human contest
have impressed US as did this sad remin-
iscence and regret from the aged lips of
China's great. statesman. We doubt that
the Iron Duke" was more a genius and
resistless conqueror than was the man who
finally suffered SO patiently and died SO
It is q dreadful thing to expend, to dis
burse, and, in some sense, actively to cause
the loss OF one single single, human ~, AM ire. Battle
we have heard the most sanguine and ex-
citable of officers say that they never failed
proydential line of their duty, they had to
order men to occupy place in which death
tS certain line to Of BATTLE beW OF WAS onee
duty on the field of the second Bull Run
battle to raise the he dioa OF TIA desperately
In the midst of his pain he moaned, .'Oh,
poor fellows as he glanced at the meadow
to order them to to- their death" One of the
five OF the greatest and foremost generals i
of the war, in reply TO our query as 10 some
of the things which successful leader
hesitate to lose many of his men when that
loss is necessary; he must face that terrible
test also We have judged General Grant
Though it is unusual, it is yet legitimate
the deadly amphitheaters of Malvern. the
horrid angles Of the Devils dem at Get
tysburg or the desperate stretches of that
at Antietam. or like. pits of human gore on
other fields can realize the certain destruc-
zion that awaits those who obey the COM
mand 10 advance against the cannon's
mouth. When the murderous below of
merciIess guns has rent the air for a quar-
Ter If a hour or even less time, thousands
Of fathers. mothers. wives. sisters and
brothers, and the waiting betrothed, are
s,rfs III recE the terrible news that crouches
to deyour their hopes. Alas, the particu-
lars of suffering and death and endless be-
homes into houses Of mourning. When.
iosaressar. . cool hrain and q diNineIy direct