The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-07-03
Brig. General Fred Grant.

In General Grants memoirs he pays
q tribute 20 Fred's courage. The son was
IN the field with his father. and for an
hour one day was under a heavy IRE
without showing the least intimation OF
rear As the boy was only Il or I5 years
OLD at the time. the fathers pride was
stirred az the exhibition Of HIS COURAGE.
The pluck that Fred exhibited al West
Point rs a cadet showed that he had his
iather nghting stock IN him. and cop-
pied with his never ceaSing good nature
made him the prime favorite OF his class.
he had been cadet orly twenty-four
hours when he pitched into cadet much
bigger than himself. hammer and tongs.
Tor q supposed insult TO his father. The
pieo class went Into camp with the
other cadets the night before the Fourth
Of July The next moAning the CORPS was
marched 20 the shade % the trees in front
OF the chapel, and there in accordance
with an oid-time custom Il listened 70 the
reading Of the declaration Of iadepend-
ence by one cadet and 20 q patriotic ha-
rangue from another. It happened on that
particular independence day that the ora
non was largely given over 70 a eulogy
or George Washington as a statesman.
man and soldier.
When the cadet corps returned to camp
an upper classman strolled Up 10 Fred.
Grant. and with the evident intention OF
"deviling" him. as the cadet glossary has
it. said: You know, as all OF Us know.
DO you not. that George Washington was
the greatest man and the greatest soldier
that America ever producsd2''
1T may be and probably is a fact that
Washington was the greater man. but I
don't think he was any better soldier than
my father"
What almost howied the upper class
man. f'there is no more comparison be-
tween your father and George Washing
ton than there is between a plucked hen
and the American eagle"
Then Fred sailed IN The two hammered
each other and rolled around the floor OF
the tent until some first ciassmen jumped
in and separated them. saying that Fort
Clinton ditch was the proper place and
an hour before reveille the proper time
for engagements Of that sort. The two
stripping soldiers fought 1t out the next
morning al sunrise. and both afterward
went to the hospital.
Grant had other fights while he was at
the academy though his classmates de-
clare he never sought n quarrel. He had
two or three such encounters with Cadet
Quincy O'Malley Gilmore, a son Of Gen
eral Gilmore of civil war fame. Gilmore
was a splendid built fellow. and was after
ward the beau ideal of a cavalry officer.
II is a question whether he and Grant
ever finally decided the question Of their
comparative fighting qualities. Sometimes
one would thrash the other. and then
the operation would be reversed. Fred's
classmates always insisted that, howev-
er else he differed from the old man. he
lacked nothing of his fathers courage
and perseverance,
1t is not generally known that It took
the son OF Ulysses, like Phil. Sheridan.
five years 20 graduate from West Point
II speaks well for the intention OF the
West Point academic board to make ev-
cry cadet stand on his own merits, when
1t is known that notwithstanding the fact
that Fred's father was then at the height
OF his fame and in position. II he would
practically 10 make or unmake any army
officer, that the board members sent Fred
at the first transfer to the bottom OF his
class. Fred saw that being found def
cient in mathematics az the next exam
nation was inevitable The penalty was
dismissal. He managed 20 avoid the ex-
animation by getting a years sick leave.
He then went back and Joined the new
''pleb" class. thereby losing a year. Then
he traced up studied hard and gradu-
ated. but escaped being the "tail-ender'
of his class by only one file.
great mans son has hard row 20
hoe at the academy. The boys don't Ike
to have too much to do with him for fear
they will be accused Of toadylnR. Fred.
Grant won his popularity by sheer force
OF his unassuming qualities and his unva-
rying good nature. A photograph 81
Grant and his classmates shows Fred
with his cap on one side and a grin on
his face