Los Angeles herald., 1908-05-31

situdes of his career the makings of
greatness and the tests of patriotic
devotion.
1T is appropriate, therefore. for us
to gather at this magnificent structure,
dedicated to the memory of one whose
name in the history, in the foundation
and maintenance of this nations life,
will always be associated with those
of Washington and Lincoln.
Character of Grant
"The character of Grant as developed
by the war and as a necessary result
was as remarkable in it's way, con-
sidering the previous history, as was
that of Lincoln. 1t is true that Grant
received an education at West Point,
but certainly nothing was developed
there in him to indicate his fitness and
ability to meet great responsibilities.
He did well in the Mexican war as did
other lieutenants. He manifested as
regimental quartermaster energy and
familiarity with his duties. But in
1854 he resigned the army because he
had to. He had yielded to the weak
ness of a taste for strong drink and
rather than be courtmartialed he left
the army.
HE returned from Vancouver on the
Pacific coast to his family in st. Louis
without money, without property-a
disheartened man. He accepted from
his father-in-law loan of acres of
land, upon which he constructed {
house for his family to live, and there
he carried on farming operations. His
chief business seemed to be that of
selling wood, of cutting it and piling
1t in the back yards of the well-to-do
people of st. Louis. After six years
of this life, he gave up farming be-
cause of i'll health, and went to the
real estate business for a year. He
failed In this. His associate dissolved
the partnership.
Hard to Make a Living
"Then, at last, his father offered him
| $500 a year as clerk In his leather
store at Galena, ILL.,, and thence he
moved from st. Louis. He worked
| there for year also. During these
seven years everything looked dark, but
! he oVercame in great measure his
| weakness for strong drink. But he was
| so constituted that 1t seemed impos-
sible for him to earn a livelihood even
when he had given hostages to fortune
| in the shape of a wife and four chill
dren.
Then the Civil War came on. Grant
had never been a dreamer of possible
military glory. He had gone to West
Point because 1t offered him an oppor-
tunity for advancement; offered him
an opportunity for an education. He
did not like the life at West Point. and
while he seemed in the Mexican war TO
be well adapted to the command of
men, to be we'll adapted to the duty of
quartermaster. he never had that vault
ing military ambition that was present
in the character of Napoleon and other
great military leaders.
He rendered his services at the be-
ginning of the war solely from sense
of duty and obligation for his educa-
ton. His having been a student at
West Point and regular army officer
necessarily brought him to the front
when military training and experience
We're in such great demand. He
modestly suggested in his letter to the
adjutant general at Washington that
he believed he was fitted to command a
regiment. He never gave evidence of
military ambition. He visited Cincin
natl seeking to become the staff officer
of Mcclellan, but in vain. And then
by great good luck he was made the
colonel of the Twenty-first Illinois by
Governor Yates.
Always in Field
that regiment until the surrender of
AppomattoX his life was one continual
we'll directed. we'll planned effort to sup
press the rebellion. From that time
on his constant quest was to find and
fight the enemy.
Beginning with the battle OF Bel
mont he was always In the field and
always seeking the Confederate forces,
though in the west he suffered as did
western generals from the interference
of the war department and the paper
strategist like Halleck. and freedom of
his movements were curtailed and his
constant activity restrained by timid-
ity and jealousy of his superior officers.
But in spite of all of this he pressed
on, and by victories he won he COM
PEELED the war department to give him
a freer hand.
Fort Henry, Fort Donelson and
Shiloh were victories that shone like
stars in the darkness of the defeats of
other Unian commanders. and although
i'll disgrace for short period he finally
was put in charge of the army
charged with the duty of taking Vicks-
burg-and ne took it. Then followed
the great battle of Chattanooga and
Missionary Ridge, after which he was
called to Washington. made lieutenant
general and commander of the entire
army of the United States.
"Then, FOR the nrSt time, ne came
against Lee, and for year he
measured swords with that great mill
tary leader of the SOUTH who ulti-
mately succumbed and surrendered to
him the army of northern Virginia at
Appomattox.
1T is not to be questioned that Grant 9
abilities to comand developed with his
increased experiences. 1t is not to be
questioned that his success depended,
too, upon the resources of the north
that furnished his men and equipment,
but in war as in other things in life,
as in all history, merit is determined by
the event. and 1t was Grant who led
the armies and infused his life into
their leadership.
Grant Subdued Rebellion
1T was Grant that finally subdued
the rebellion. At one time it was Gus
tomary to criticise Grants campaign
ing and to intimate that his knowledge
of military strategy was not such as to
Justify a comparison of him with Lee
and other generals. Grant had a very
broad conception of the work which
the north had before it in subduing the
south. He had an opportunity in his
life to know the southern people and
discriminate in respect to them so as to
understand that while they talked a
great deal they could also do a great
ot,1t f,fc h