The Mt. Sterling advocate., 1922-07-25
DR.. Powers Writes
Of General Grant
(By DIR. J. Pike Powers)

interest various tributes paid to Cen
eral Grant on the centenary of his
birth last April and was reminded of
incidents relating to him which oc-
CURED before and after the Civil
war. was a young fellow boarding
with fine man who operated a
large tannery in Augusta, KY, on the
southern bank of the Ohio river and
opposite the state of Ohio. My friends
thought that exercise in the beam
house and finishing rooms and the
odor of tanic acid from the vats and
the smell of freshly skinned hides
would be beneficial to me, so I was
induced to serve an apprenticeship.
Mr.. Jesse Grant, the father of Ulys-
ses, who lived across the river in
Clermont county, used to come to
buy leather as one of the regular pa
irons of the lanyard. remember
him as rather tall, raw-boned, dark
complexioned and wearing an old
fashioned silk hat When he first
came he often referred with pride to
my son, the captain" His son had
graduated from West Point and re-
turned to his home. But it seems
he was not success in business
though his father gave him a good
position. So he went west to Cali
fornia or Oregon as a civil engineer,
and about the beginning of the war
he returned eastward as far as Mis-
souri,, where he raised a company
and they elected him captain. His
aspirations we're higher than that
and the governor of Missouri COM
missioned him colonel He also won
his southern wife, Miss Dent, in Mis-
souri,. Then his father, with great
pride, spoke of him as my son. the
colonel" When the colonel was made
general his father quit coming to Au-
gusta and, | suppose, quit buying
leather. The general commanded a
brigade in Mississippi in the cam
paign against Fort Donaldson and
was successful in reducing it,; cap
tured Vicksburg and soon thereafter
was made general of the U. s. army
by President Lincoln, and assumed
command of the forces operating in
front of General Robert E. Lee. Mr..
Lincoln is said to have thanked God
that he "had found a general at last"
Grant held on with bulldog tenacity
in his campaign against Richmond,
resolved, as he said, to take it II 1t
took all summer. After General Lee
his shattered ranks and
sword at Appomattox
Court House, General Grant was the
most prominent figure in the Repub-
lican party. and when the next ma
tional convention was held and nom
nations were In order, the Honor
able Roscoe Conklin, of New York,
with all the force and effect of his
personality arose and
said. "Mr. Chairman. il you ask
whence comes our candidate, l an
swer, From Appomatox.' Yes, Ap-
was the cause of his imme-
iiate popularity, and made him the
president of the United States.
said above that his father did not
return to buy leather, and one rea- I
son, | suppose, was because my son,
he president" appointed him post
master at Covington, Ky. II my mem
,ry is correct. he had an uncle keep
ng a toll gate on the Maysville and
lexington turnpike in Mason county,
kentucky. This uncle was Demo
rat His friends got up a petition
nd forwarded it to Washington, ask
ng the president to do something for
lis uncle. and he finally made him
in the city of Maysville,
he senate confirming the nomina-
ion, and no one, as far as | ever
card, accused the president of nepo-
ISM