The Holt County sentinel., 1911-07-07

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cONrKDERATK LEADER. VINO ON NAT II.
1851, roOk COMMAND or rORcks N AND
ABOUT BAkPkKs FEkky.
long and interestingly. Moreover,
when be did give way to loQuacity ne
had information and ideas 10 impart
Az an instance. he once presided over
Q war meeting In Gnlcna. Instead Of
INDUCING In the bombast and froth u
the average speaker Of the day. nils.
called eioqucnce. Grant got down to
brnss tacks. talked about the sctual
hardships the soldiers would have to
undergo, but stiil convinced them that
u was worth while. Superficial people
could not measure such q man. but
history has measured him at least In
part
Years ago ! met an old man who
said that while on IN Ohio river steam.
boat early In the war he had observed
IN army officer Of striking appearance.
The thing that distinguished him was
the manner In which he closed his
mouth. This friend. who wns a rnih.
er keen observer Of men, said he hnd
never seen u man shut his mouth ~
hard. He WIS 30 struck thnt he Ia.
Quired the officers nane and wns told
II was Grant. though II WINS not TN
years later that he identifies him with
the famous general
Personally ! cannot get over n pecnl.
Tar feeling In regard 20 Grant. u feet.
ing that ! hold for no other Americans
except Lincoln and Thomas Paine. I
cannot explain II wholly. ana yet !
cannot argue II away. II In that
Grant was greater man than any Of
M have yet understood. ! never saw
him. was not impressed by his poiiti.
cal associations and heard most Of the
derogntory things said about him =
quarter Of a century ago. Yet the feel
Ing for him grew. u was at erst
vRgue. but with the passage Of time
has become more definite. II was that
Grant truly belonged 10 the family of
great souls; that be bad q supreme
work 70 do and did II. Grants fame
h Of the stun that viii stand the acid
test Of centuries.
War 10 stern winnower that sep
araies human char from wheat On
May "a, 1891. Grant In the eyes OF
men was nobody. Hundreds Of
thousands Of his interiors made more
show aud more noise The war wind
blew. and the fame Of these went with
Il, hut that OF Grant remained. Grant
never could make money. but neither
could Lincoln, neither could most Of
the supremely great men In history.
Fremont Made Major General.
While Grant was trying for even q
small chance 10 give his military ex.
perience IL the country John Q. Ere
mont who had been the Republican
candidate for president five years ear.
Tier, was appointed major general.
Great hopes were entertained for HE
future, He had been a notable en-
gtneer nnd explorer. the respected
standard bearer Of II new cause that
later had succeeded. and he was the
sOn'in-law OF Thomas II. Benton. Yet
Fremont's military service added lit
tie to his prestige. Truly war is q
sitter OF men.
This week saw little actual fighting,
except a skirmish at Arlington be-
tween some New York troops aud q
few COnfederates and a handful II
prisoners ken al Alexandria. Yet II
ended notably, On May % occurred q
cluster OF vents OF first class impor-
tance. That was the day on which
Fremonts advancement was announc.
ed. likewise that on which definite
news came that the western end Of
virginia was determined to break
away and on which the New York
Herald named II "New Virginia." On
that day Buffers men took Newport
News and Mcdowell was made head
OF the Army OF the Potomac. On that
day the newspapers announced that
the end May would soc the discon.
dnnance southern mails, On that
day the border states convention met.
Most Hateful Of all. on that day came
news tina the Confederate troops
were concentrating 1t Munassaa