Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1897-09-25
GRANT in NEW YORK.
WHEN THE MORE INTIMATE SIDE or
HIS CHARACTER BECAME KNOWN.

WHEN THE MORE INTIMATE SIDE or
HIS CHARACTER BECAME KNOWN.
The Great Disaster which Came TO Him
So Unexpectedly and What Led to It.
Els Greatest Distress Was to BE De-
ceived by Those he Trusted.
General Grant came to live in New York
in 1881 with the luster Of his unparalleled
successes and his unequaled honors sur
rounding him. With such dignities and
ceremonies as the metropolis aeoords only
to a few men in each generation, 1t well
coined within its gates the first citizen of
the republic The sight of that sturdy fig
ure, which had borne without flinching
the burdens of war and state, and of that
pleasant, taciturn countenance, serene with
the wonted mastery of all circumstances
and the quiet confidence in fortune, be-
eame familiar one at the larger cerelno-
mails of the city. That misfortune, impo-
tent to harm him on a hundred battle
fields should strike down tho old hero in
the hour of his peaceful fame no one
dreamed, least of all Grant himself.
The more intimate side of his character
became known during his later life in tho
east That his sternness of aspect con-
cealed nature that was full of gentle
ness and as simple as a child, that indeed
''the loving are the daring" the world
scarcely learned before the heavy hand of
disease had been laid upon spirit bowed
deWn with unmerited misfortune. George
w. Childs told of conversation he had
with Grant when the latter was spending
bfc nj aob 10 cl- al
the general what had been the greatest
distress he had sustained, and the reply
was, "To be deceived by those trusted"
1t is altogether pleasant chapter that
the life of General Grant presents at this
period, brief though 1t is and although
the mutterings of the storm are heard out
of that clear sky of contentment. In the
family circle or when surrounded by old
comrades he was by no means the ire
sponsiye man he has been painted. He
was free and interesting in conversation,
and, as Childs recalled, talked more than
any single member of tho company, but
he added: "Let a stranger enter, and he
would say nothing more during the eyen-
ing. That was one popularity Of his.
In these conversations General Grant
sometimes went over the eyentful scenes
of the past. lie was generous in his esti-
mate Of the men who had fought by his
side. His admiration of Sheridan was I'M
measured. He used to say that "L4ittle
PHIL was the greatest fighter ho ever
knew, and that another war would develop
in him the supreme commander. His own
reserved nature found in the iashing SOL
dier's overlooking spirits, boundless conf
dence and sometimes emphatic conYersa-
ton a complement to itself. For reasons
of much the same sort he had a positive
affection for General John A. Logan. He
was proud of both of them and happy in
their society.
His loyalty to his friends was entire.
One OF his principles was Never desert IL
friend under fire. While it is more than
likely that the famous $685. did not bear
with them into the Chicago convention
any real wish of General Grants that they
be successful, he took a soldiers delight
afterward in their magniiloently faithful
fight in his behalf and never forgot it.
His Partially for his army comrades
had been shown while he was president.
81 like, he said "to appoint the chill
dren Of army and navy officers because
they have no political influence" The
care he exercised over the orphans Of vet
Grams who had died on the field was con-
tinued in private life. Sometimes it took
the form of gifts and subscriptions really
beyond his means. An application from
soldiers widow was one thing he found it
hard to refuse
The blow that struck Grant down came
suddenly. II is a saddening episode to re-
call, with its cruel shock of surprise and
the still more cruel imputations that for
the moment were cast upon tho old heros
integrity, but when the dust that had been
raised by the crash of tho banking house
of Grant & Ward had cleared the figure
that 1t revealed was not that of a man who
had bartered his honor and had risked all
and lost in a desperate throw, but of an
old soldier dazed by the vision of part
ner's unfaithfulness and stripped in a mo-
ment of his worldly possessions, and yet
with his personal honesty shining out
from the ruin of his houses credit and his
resolute courage to redeem his i'll fortune
standing forth like solitary tower in an
earthquake leveled plain.
Grant had entered Wall street because
he found his income insufficient for his
family. The genius of Ferdinand Ward
dazzled him as it had dazzled other men
in the street Grant thought himself
wealthy man. 1t was matter of pride to
him that he should reverse the i'll omens
of his life as private citizen prior to the
war and demonstrate before the world that
be could succeed in business as in war.
That morning in May of 1884 came when
he found that his house had failed for mil
lions. Resolutely he set to work to meet
his obligations. He even pledged his med
ais and his decorations. Then he began
the preparation of the memoirs covering
period of which he could say with as much
truth as Caesar In his DO Bello Calico"
"All of which saw and part of which
was.
The later scenes of that grim campaign
are swathed in tho mists that hang ever in
the valley of the shadow. 1t was another
battle of the Wilderness. And it ended in
the sunlight yonder on the hilltop that is
called McGregor. York Mail and
Express.