The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1912-04-16
81 GEORGE CLINTON.

AuCA IL AS " COSl duU IL Iu0I0 ~ duy
chance of getting it for nothing.
Sometime ago, for instance, he nego-
tiated with Portland, Ore, man for
the purchase at the price OF $500 Of q
manuscript order book, once the prop
erty of Gen. Arthur Saint Clair. who
was governor of the Western Terri
tory and commander of it's military
forces during the administrations of
Presidents Washington and Adams.
Uncle Sam gets his money to buy
manuscripts from the secretary of
the treasury after congress by joint
resolution has given him permission
to make the purchase. r
Had Grants Field Orders. u
It Is said in Washington that in the
city of Utica, N Y, there is an his
toric treasure which surpasses in in
terest mere order book of Arthur
Saint Clair, sterling soldier though he
was. There died recently in Utica a
man who owned scores of General
Grants field orders, written entirel-
in the generals own hand, and every
one bearing the signature of the gen.
eral OF the United States army. Grant,
it is said, wrote these various orders
and dispatches and gave them to his
telegraph operator to put in cipher
and transmit over the wires. The op-
orator did the translating and trans
hitting and then naturally, knowing
the probable future value of the ma
terial, did not destroy the originals,
but put them In safe place where
no unauthorized person could see
them, and kept possession of them
until long after the war.
From time to time it is said that
this operator disposed Of some OF the
original Grant manuscripts to William
Blake. who was well-known drug
eist of Utica and who is now dead,
his heirs presumably having tho
Grant papers. Among these docu-
ments it is said Is Grants despatch
congratulating Sherman on the cap
ture Of Savannah and on the end of
his march to the sea. Nearly all
the dispatches to Sheridan in the
Shenandoah Valley are there and al
so the despatch to Abraham Lincoln
telling him that General Weitzel had
entered Richmond, and that the army
was following.
In the war department there are
many manuscript orders of both
Union and Confederate generals, some
of them having been found after the
war and others presented to the war
department both by northern and
southern men. It is the governments
endeavor to get everything of this
kind which it can. It is done with a
view to preserving memorials OF the
common country, for 1t must be un-
derstood now that the word rebellion
is seldom used and then only by men
who find it hard to forget.
Dinner Of West Pointers.
There was dinner the other night,
at a hotel In Washington, OF grad.
yates from West Point. The Oldest
graduate present was Of the class of
1847, General Gibson, who was one
of Grants chiefs Of artillery. He paid
a wonderful tribute to the leaders OF
the southern cause. On the screen
at the end OF the hall in which the
dinner was held were shown side by
side the pictures of the two greatest
graduates Of the academy, Lee and
Grant. The cheering when the faces
appeared was Of the kind called tn:
mn1fn0Ma g.
While the dinner was a West Point
affair, there were good many non
graduates Of the academy in attend
ance, among them being Lieutenant
Generals Miles and Young. Maj. Gen.
Leonard E. Wood, now chief OF stan
of the army, was also present and he,
although he never saw the military
academy except as q visitor, ex-
pressed the wish that the proportion
Of graduates In the army might in
crease year by year.
Congress is likely to pass bill
which will enable the government TO
send the National Guard regiments OF
the states out Of the country II their
services there should be necessary as
an auxiliary to the army. The regu-
lar army officers want the law to read
80 that the National Guard shall be.
come a part Of the regular force to
be ofacered by regulars. but the Ma
tional Guardsmen are opposed to this,
and II the Bill Is passed it probably
will provide that the state troops
shall preserve their identity and 90
out with their own officers The Mex
lean situation has been instrumental
In securing Immediate attention for
several army measures. this militia
bill being included.
Mystery Of the Pyramids.
One Of the mysteries Of the great
pyramids In Egypt IL how they were
a.> 3 = ~ n.