The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1901-05-15
Truth About Grant.

Truth About Grant.
The following timely article is
communication recently published in
the HtlAnta Cnnstit..:cn
Editor Constitution Not long ago
you Reproduced by permission from
the New York World'a Sunday Maga-
zine" an article by Mrs. Jefferson
Davis on "Tho Humanity Of Gen.
Grant,
Mrs. Davis has certainly depended
upon imagination and hearsay in this
enlogy on Graut. Speaking Of the
sword etory Of Appomattox, she says
General Grant did not keep it as
trophy, Sat respectfully returned it to
the hand which had made its fame as
deathless as that Of ExcaIibur.' In
GRAFT Memoirs, volume 3, page 494,
he Gays: "The much talked OF sur
rendering Of Lees nword and my
handing it back, this and much more
tha. has been said about il is the
purest romance" 1t was pure ro-
nance about Grant receiving the
sword, and it follows thu. it was not
respectfully Teturaeda. %
In his memoirs, Gen. Grant says
that Gen. Lee told him that in tho
Confederate army the cavalrymen and
arLillerists owned their own horses.
Gen. Grant was Of opinion that the
war was about erded; that most of the
Confederates were small farmers and
would not be able to make, crop
without "the aid OF the horses they
we're then riding" He said to Gen.
Lee about the horses: "The United
States did not want them, and I would.
therefore, instruct the officers I left
behind to receive the paroles of his
troops to let every man of the Con-
federate army who claimed to own
horse or mule to take the animal to
his home" From this it will be seen
that Gen. Grant, according to his own
statement, was influenced by two
facts in allowing the Confederates to
retain their horses, to wit: The horses
were the private property Of the sol
diel }, and "the United States did not
want them" This means that the
horses would have been taken if they
had belonged &c the Confederate
States, or they would have been taken
anyway if the United States had want
cd them.
j This horse story has been told SO Of
ten that no doubt some persons be-
lieve that Gen. Grant sent Gen. Lees
soldiers home on horseback, but that
is not the case. When the surrender
came Gen: Lee had only 1882 infau.
try with arms in their hands.
Before the paroles were made out
stysgglers enough came up to run the
number up to about 25, 600. Of these
about s, 900 were cavalry and artillery.
Then at least 20, 600 men had to walk
home, and were not beneficiaries Of
Grants magnanimity. The men who
did ride home were allowed to keep
their horses only until they got in
| good condition. Then treasury agents
warmed through the country and car
riea off every horse that had the
brand U S. or q. s. OH it. But this
did not satisfy them, for they took
away every horse that some triAing
; negro would say had bee, in the
army.
When it comes to magnanimous
treatment of Confederates, Grant is
not to be classed with Sherman. Ger.
Benjamin +. Butler states that there
was an agreement between Sherman
and his leading officers to provide
ship at Charleston for the escape from
tho country Of Jefferson Davis and
such Of bis cabinet and others as chose
to 20 with him.
It is o fact that Sherman proposed
(. s!!c= The men Of Johnston army
who surrendered at Greensboro to take
their gons and go home as if no war
had taken place. He said he would
rather have the parolYd Confederates
control the South than 60 see it turn
ed over to the negro rule.
Mrs. Davis should write no more
such articles. for che newspapers until
che is sure OF her facts.
ROBERT X. HEMpHILL.
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