The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-26
NOT ALONE IN HIS ABILITIES AS A
SOLDIER, SAYS GEN. SCHO-
FIELD.
THE IDEAL CITIZEN SOLDIER.
AS A TYPICAL AMERICAN HE HOLDS
HIS PLACE IN AMERICAN
HEARTS.
WARRIORS EULoGY OF A WARRIOR
Ex-Comnander's Reply to Mayor
StrOng's Invitation to Be
New YOrI1's Guest.

NEW YORK, April 25.-Lieut- Gen.
John M. Schof1eld, U. S. A. retired)
has accepted the invitation of Mayor
Strong on behalf of the city of New
York to be one Of the city's guests at
the ceremonies attendant upon the ded-
ication of the Grant monument
In accepting the city's invitation, the
general has written a letter concerning
Gen. Grant. AS will be remembered
Gen. Schofield was not under Grants
immediate command in the field, but
was intimately associated with him
both during and since the war At one
time, during the closing months Of
Johnson'S administration, he was sec
rotary of war, and, therefore, for the
time being was Grants official superior.
Their relations were always of the most
intimate and confidential nature, and
Gen. Schofield's views of Grant should
be most interesting at the present time.
In his letter the general says in part:
THE greatest of all the traits of
Grants character was that which lay
always on the surface, visible to all
who had eyes to see it. That was his
moral and intellectual honesty integ-
rity, sincerity, veracity and justice. He
was incapable of any attempt to de-
ceive anybody, except for legitimate
purposes, as in military strategy; and
above all, he was incapable of deceiv-
ing himself He possessed that rarest
of all human faculties, the power of a
perfectly accurate estimate of himself
uninf1uenced by vanity, pride, ambition,
fiattery or self-interest. Grant was
very far from being a modest man, as
that word is generally understood. His
Just self-esteem put him far above fiat
terry.
when Grants attention was called
to any mistake he had committed, he
would see and admit it as quickly and
unreservedly as if 1t had been made
by any body else, and with smile which
expressed the exact opposite of that
feeling which most men are apt to
show under like circumstances. His love
Of truth and justice were so far above
all personal considerations that he
showed unmistakable evidence of graft
f1cation when any error into which he
might have fallen was corrected.
His pride In his own mature opinion
was great, and in that he was as far
as possible from being modest man.
This absolute confidence in his own
judgment upon any subject he had mas
tered and the moral courage to take
upon himself alone the highest response
bility and to demand full authority
and freedom to act according to his
! own Judgment without interference
| from anybody. added to his accurate
estimate Of individuals in authority and
responsible in the conduct of military
| operations and in all that concerns the
efficiency of armies in time Of war, con-
| stituted the foundation of that very
| great character.
/ 1T has been said that Grant, like
! Lincoln was q typical American, and
for that reason was most beloved and
respected by the people. That is true
| Of the statesman and the soldier as
we'll as of the people, If by it is meant
| the highest type, that ideal which COM
mandS the respect and admiration Of
! the highest and best in a mans nature,
| however far above himself. Soldiers
and the people saw in Grant, or in Lin
! coln not one of themselves, not a plain
| man of the people, nor yet a superior
being whom they could not understand,
| but the personification of their highest
| ideal of a citizen, soldier or a states
man, man whose greatness they could
| see and understand as plainly as they
| could anything else under the sun. And
| there was no more mystery about 1t
than there was in the popular mind"