The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-04-28

church dragged field gun up into this
belfry himself leading and .iring II. dis
lodged force Of Mexicans from a parape
strbbcrnly held by them as one II the
defenses OF the City OF Mexico. For his
work he was specially commended by Gen
cral Worth and breveted twice within five
days.
Returning from Mexico he received 0
fur.ough. married Miss Jilia +. Dent, in
1913, continuing in the. array until 1hb4
when he resigned his commissi rSond tcok
up bis residence OH farm near 81. Louis,
in which city his wife's tnmily live1. He
seemed to have met with little success IN
civil pursuits. and in 1860 removed 70
Galena, where he became associated with
his brothers in the leather ifede.
ION the 10Th of April. sig days after the
fall OF Fort Sumter. he had Bs,hered a
/ company, began to drill them aud offered
| himself to the governor OF lil,ht Is. so
modest and unobstrusive was General
Grant that his Id service seems roi
time to have been lost eight o.. The story
| OF his military career Las leen refcarsed
over and over. All are familiar with his
success In the West aud there .fst looms
up the generosity of his character. When
/ seeking to establish the United states In
possession OF Kentucky, Nc proclaimed:
q" Il have nothing 20 10 With opln,cns,
| and shall deal only with armed rcteliion
and its aiders and abettors.
| "At Vicksburg his order vas: Il he gar
| rison will march out tomorrow. Instruct
your commands tofbe luiet arm orderly
az the prisoners pass by and make no Of
| fenstve remarks. .
"At Appomattox he quietly hushed all
noisy demonstrations 0f N'c'orops Joy
| with the words;
The war Is over; the re5sls ere our
| countrymen again, and the best sign OIL
| rejoicing after the victory viii be TO re-,
! frain from all demonstrations In the helN'
! And his generosity to his defeateu
/ ccuntrymen has made its indelihle marx
on the character of the American soldier
as shown by their conduct in the war WIN
/ Spain. when their treatment of the
/ enemys wounded and prisoners gained
world wide admiration. II was the gen
erous magnanimity of Grant after com
/ polling the surrender of the Confederate
armies that did more TO bring about the
I reunion of the States than 1000O,OOO OF
troops could ever have accomplished.
| "The modesty of Grants character was
| most singular and in this day of sham
and pretense most wonderful. Evidently
| his early life and its hardships and de-
/ prlvatlons had taught him the true bal
| ance of earthly things. After reaching the
dizzy heights of fame, and In his journey
around the earth, standing as their equal
among the crowned heads of the world
honored and applauded. he remains as UNI
| obstruslvely retiring as when he entered
upon his great career, and it is the utter
absence of all shadow OF egotism that
makes his memories so unique produce
( ton.
General Grants modesty sometimes led
/ him TO speak rather disparagingly of him
! self While this may have been done In
spirit OF Jest rather than of seriousness,
many wrong impressions were thus Great
ed which remain even to this day, Espe-
| cially is this true as to his proficiency as
student. He has been referred to as
standing very low in his classes and
story has often been repeated that while
cadet General Grant expressed great de-
/ light at the introduction Of "a bill in con-
gress 10 abolish the military academy,
giving as his reason that the passage OF
the bill would enable him to get out OF
the academy honorably whereas, without
il, he would certainly be dismissed. All
these impressions are utterly without
foundation.
I'm General Grants class ninety-one
cadets were appointed. Nine were turned
back from other classes. making 100.
THE first year he stood sixteenth in
mathematics; the second year he had
risen to tenth in that scientific branch;
1 the third year he stood fifteenth in pbilos-
ophy, twenty second in chemistry and
nineteenth in drawing, and his last year,
when a first class man. he stood sixteenth
In military and civil engineering and sew
enteenth in mneralogy and geology. This
was we'll up to the average standard Of
the distinguished generals who became
prominent both in the Federal and Con-
federate armies This shows how thor
oughly untrue are statements to this Of
feet that ne was in danger of being dis
missed from the academy for deficiency
in his studies.
1T is not we'll for the young men of the
country to be taught that men rise to
the great heights attained by General
Grant without study and education. 1t
cultiyates an idea which should be dis
couraged. I do not wish to be understood
as saying that high class standing Is either
essential or that it is all that is required
to make good commander the contrary
is true.
General Francis A. Walker in speech
delivered in Boston, July g. 1891, in speak
ing of the display OF intellect and charac-
ter by graduates OF the military academy,
used these words:
I said of intellect and character, for
1t Is character even more than intellect
which enables the commander to bear the
tremendous care, responsibilities and bur-
dens OF his office
In closing his remarks, General Wheeler
painted the personal character of General
Grant whom he spoke of as "loyad to
God 10 country, to friends. to all his I'M
dertasings" His determination was un-
coneuerable, his spirit congenial toward
those whom he trusted. Two names, said
General Wheeler, would go down to ages
yet to come side BY side Grant the lead
er magnanimous In victory: Lee. than
| whom no greater ever survived defeat.
Grant deserved his renown in each OF his
characters as patriot, warrior and
| statesman His family life was ono of
! devotion. tenderness and love his great
desire and end after Appomatox was a
reunited Nation"
General Wheeler concluded by recalling
Grants remarkable prophecy:
! Al some future day the nations of the
earth will agree upon some sort of con-
Gress which shall take cognlzanoe of in
ternational questions of difficulty and
whose decisions will be as binding as the
decision of the supreme court is upon us"
WHISTLER this be prophecy" General
aMheeler said AT least it shows that his
nneer was on the purse Of the age