The Portland daily press., 1895-08-31

W as Droughb INTO daily association WIZ
him while he remained at Pilot KNOB.
J. was wit him much during three
periods Of keen, bitter disappointment
| and great mental suffering resulting
| from the treatment he received from
superior officers, and during which period
he knew he had my undivided friendship
| and devotion. One of those periods
will now describe.
Gen. Grant was rapidly reinforced by
| Fremont. SO that he was able to take the
field against Hardee, and was about 10
march on Greenville, twenty-five miles
away where the former then was Win
his forces when Gen. B. NJ. Prentiss Oh
| illinois arrived at Ironton with orders TO
| take command of that district, thus re-
lieving Grant. Why he was thus sum-
marily displaced by another he could not
divine. Nothing had occurred to mar the
| friendly relations between him and Ere
mont, and the latter had not indicated
any dissatisfaction with the course he
was pursuing. He felt severely the
humiliation Of being thus recalled from
his command, for which there was no ap
parent justification, and he was thor
oughlv cast down and detected by the
wholly unexpected change in his military
position. 1t seemed to me he felt it more
than the circumstances warranted But
aside from the modification he endure d
there was another reason which added
greatly to his disappointment and dis
comflture. While preparing to move
against Hardee and drive him out OF that
section or capture him, he was also pre-
pairing, when he had disposed Of Hardee
to move across to Cape Girardeau with,
the purpose of crossing the Mississippi
and establishing himself at Cairo, thus
making that the base Of future opera
tions. 1 learned afterwards that at the
very time of which am writing Grant
had in his mind the plans Of campaigns
on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers
and down the Mississippi to Vicksburg,
which he subsequently carried through.
The fact of his being taken away from
that theater of the war largely added to
his ohagrin and disappointment.
The night after the arrival of Prentiss
Grant ordered an engine and one car to
take him to ST. Louis, and invit ed me to
accompany him. We were the only occu-
pants of the car. He was silent nearly
the whole Of the way, apparently brood
ing over his situation. We left Pilot Knob
little after midnight and reached st.
Louis about the break of day, and re-
pared to the Planters Hotel for br, akfast
At o. clock he went to headquarters to
report In about three quarters of an
hour he returned and four me walking
back and forth on the sidewalk in front
of the hotel and Joined me, appearing
more dispirited than before He said he
had received no satisfaction from Ere
mont as to why he was recalled, but that
Fremont proposed to send him to Jeffer-
son City to take command there. Giving
some expression to his feelings that his
plans and hopes had been thus frustrated
after pause he said:
II do not want to go to Jefferson City.
do not want to go any further into
Missouri. But of course / must obey or
ders -
He talked with me freely in regard to
this trouble which had come upon him.
He did not exhibit an angry spirit. did
not utter harsh word, but his feelings
seemed to be deeply wounded. 1t was
characteristic of Grant to put implicit
confid ence in one whom he believed to be
his true friend, and it appeared to be
relief to him to talk with ME Of his
trouble.
While thus walking back and forth he
said: ~ wish could get a leave of alb
sence for five days to enable me to go to
Galena'' Then turning to me with al
most childlike simplicity he said: Do
you suppose Gen. Fremont would give
me such leave?''
replied, ~ can conceive of no reason
why he should not. There is no military
movement on foot of any magnitude at
present. y Still taking turn back and
forth I added, General if l were in
your place would go back and ask him
for the leave"
Rejecting on it for few minues he
then said, II believe l will adopt your
suggestion and will make the applica-
tion.'
He Immediately returned to headquar-
tiers and sought the leave. In short
time he was back at the hotel with
much more cheerful expression upon his
countenance and said he had obtained
the desired order and should leave for
Galna that night.
His family we're living at Galena, and
it was natural to me to believe his desire
to see them prompted the visit But
little did I realize the vast consequences
to him and to the country which would
result from his securing that leave of
absence and his making the visit at that
particular time Foreseeing that the
great events of the war must inevitably
take place east of the Mississippi river
and west Of the Alleghanies and the Blue
Ridge as well as east of those mountains,
he knew if he went further into Missouri
he might be sidetracked in that State for
year or more. He felt if he should re-
main there he would lose the important
of his life. He would be