The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1897-09-17
GRANT IN NEW YORK.
WHEN THE MORE INTIMATE SIDE OF
HIS CHARACTER BECAME KNOWN.

|
So Unexpectedly and What Led to 1t.
His Greatest Distress Was to Be De-
ceived by Those He Trusted.
General Grant came to live in New York
in 1851 with the luster of his unparalleled
! successes and his unequaled honors sur
rounding him. With such dignities and
ceremonies as the metropolis accords only
to few men in each generation, it 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 oountenance, serene with
| the wonted mastery Of all circumstances
| and the quiet confidence in fortune, be-
| came familiar one at the larger ceremo-
| mails of the city. That misfortune, impo-
tent to harm him on hundred battle
! fields, should strike down the 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 the
east. That his sternness of aspect con-
| cealed nature that was full of gentle
ness and as simple as child, that indeed
1.-The loving are the daring" tho world
scarcely learned before the heavy hand of
| ulSedS6 ndu DeeD upon SplTlU DOWeu
down with unmerited misfortune. George
| W. Childs told of conversation he had
with Grant when the latter was spending
his summer Mt Long Branch. He asked
the general what had been the greatest
| distress he had sustained, and the reply
| was, go be deceived by those l trusted
1t is altogether pleasant chapter that
the life of General Grant presents at this
| period, brief though it 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
| sponsive 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 n stranger enter and he
would say nothing more during the even
ing. That was one popularity of his. ="
In these conversations General Grant
sometimes went over the eventful scenes
of the past. He 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 Little
PHIL was the greatest fighter ne ever
knew, and that another war would develop
in him the supreme commander His own
reserved nature found in the dashing sol
dier's overfowing spirits, boundiess conf
dence and sometimes emphatic CONVERSE
ton complement to itself For reasons
of much the same sort he had 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 II
friend under fire." While it is moro than
| IL
with them into the Chicago convention
any real wish of General Grants that they
be successful, he took a soldiers delight
afterward in their magnificently faithful
fight in his behalf and never forgot it.
His Partially for his army comrades
had been shown while he was president.
II 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 a |
soldiers widow was one thing he found it |
hard to refuse. |
The blow that struck Grant down came |
suddenly. 1t is saddening episode to re- |
call, with its cruel shock of surprise and |
the still more cruel imputations that for |
the moment were cast upon the old herOs |
integrity, but when the dust that had been |
raised by the crash of the banking house |
of Grant & Ward had cleared the figure |
that 1t revealed was not that of 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 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 levcled 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 ill omens |
of his life as private citizen prior to the .
war and demonstrate before the world that |
he 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 DE Bello Calico"
IAN of which 1 saw and part of which
was
The later scenes of that grim campaign
are swathed in the 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
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