Year: 1868

from the Life of Ulysses S. Grant. by Charles A.


Dana and j. II. Wilson, Brevet Major r-General,


q. A..


HIS APPEARANCE AND MANNERS.


GRANT is somewhat under the medium
size, though his body is closely and power
fully built. His feet and hands are small
and neatly shaped; his dress is plain and
exceedingly unostentatious; his eyes are
large, deep, leonine, and very strong,
equally capable of blazing with resolu-
ton that nothing can Withstand, and of
shining with the steady light of benevo-
lence and amiability. His fiber is like that
of steel wire, elastic, close-grained, and
enduring; his temperament is admirably
compounded of the sanguine, nervous and
lymphatic, but the last is in such proper
tion as to tone down and hold in equili-
brium the other two, perfecting both
mental and physical organization. His
capacity for labor surpasses comprehen-
son; neither mental nor physical exertion
seems to produce the least wear and tear
in his case. He rides at dashing speed
hour after hour and day after day with the
issues the instructions for campaign.
There is no noise or clash or clangor in the
man; his voice is as quiet and orderly as
woman's, and his language judiciously and
tastefully chosen. He was never heard to
give utterance to rude word or vulgar
Jest; no oath or fierce, fiery imprecation
has ever escaped his lips No laundering
order, no unfee1ing or undignifed speech,
and no thoughtless or ill-natured criticism
ever fell from him. When angry, which
is rarely the case, or, at least, he rarely
shows his anger, he speaks with a we'll
ordered but subdued vehemence, display
ing his passion by compressed lips and an
earnest flash of the eye. But it must be
said of him, that of all men he is the slow
est to anger. He has been heard to say
that even under the severest insult he
never became indignant till week after
the offense had been given, and then only
at himself for not having sooner discov
cred that he had been insulted or misused.
This arises rather from an unconscious
selfabnegation than from any incapacity
for choler. 1t is precisely this quality
which has made him so successful in the
personal questions which have arisen be-
tween him and his subordinates. They
have usually mistaken his slowness for
dullness or lack of spirit, and have dis
covered their mistake only after becom-
ing rash and committing fatal error.
Grant is as unsuspicious and pure-hearted
as q child and as free from harmful inten-
ton; but he is stirred to the very depths
of his nature by an act of inhumanity or
brutality of any sort; while meanness, or
ingratitude, or uncharitableness eXcites
him to the display of the liyeliest indigna-
ton. He is not slow in the exhibition of
contempt or disgust for whatever is un-
manly or unbecoming.


KINDNESS TO SUBORDINATES.


In issuing orders to his subordinates, or
in asking service at the hand Of staff
officer, he is always scrupulously polite
and respectful in manner; and orders or
requests rather as he would ask friend
to oblige him personally than as military
commander whose word is law. His con-
sideration for those about him is admirably
shown by the following. g.incident On the
night after the battle at Mission Ridge,
while returning from the front to his
head quarters at Chattanooga, he desired
to know what had become of Sheridan's
division, which had been reported at noon
as engaged in building bridge across the
Chicamauga at Mission Mills; and al
though it was then after midnight, he re-
quested one of his staff to obtain the de-
sired information. The officer, after a
long and tiresome ride, reported at head
quarters just at sunrise, and found the
General not yet asleep. 1t seems that in
returning to Chattanooga at about 1
o'clock, he found full explanation of the
days operations, and, instead of going to
sleep, he spent the rest of the night in
thinking of the long and tedious ride he
had required from his officer, all for no
purpose, as he expressed it. Such solici-
tude for the comfort of others, it is need
less to say, was rare, even among the most
humane of our Generals. Many of them
would not have hesitated to save them
selves even the slightest trouble at the eX-
pense of others; ard not few would have
given themselves scarce a moments
thought had an aid-de-camp been killed,
much less if he had only gone on long
and difficult ride upon wintry night.


HABITS, TASTES, AND MENTAL, CHARACTER


ISTICs.


Grants personal habits and tastes are ex-
ceedingly simple; he despises the pomp
and show of empty parade, and in his
severe simplicity and manly pride he
scorns all adventitious aids to popularity.
He lives plainly himself, and cannot
tolerate ostentation or extravaganza in
those about him. His mess was never
luxuriously, though always bountifully,
furnished with army rations, and such
supplies as could be transported readily
and easily in the limited number of wagons
that be permitted to follow his head-quar-
ters. His appetites are all under perfect
control He is very abstemious, and
during his entire Western campaign the
officers of his staff were forbidden to bring
wines or liquors into camp He has
been represented as one of the most
80 1P. L
such. He never diyulges his thoughts until
they are matured, and never aspires to
speech making and even in private con-
versation he falls into silence if he sus-
poets that he is likely to be reported. He
is the most modest of men, and nothing
annoys him more than loud parade of
personal opinion or personal vanity but
with his intimate friends, either at home
or around the campfire, he talks upon all
subjects, not only fiuently and copiously,
but in the most charming and good-na-
tured manner His life has been too busy
to read history or technical works, but he
has always beena close and careful reader
of the newspapers. He has a retentive
memory, and is deeply interested in all
matters which concern the interests ofhu-
manity, and particularly his own country.
Upon all such subjects, in fact upon all the
vital questions of the day, he thinks care
fully and profoundly, and expresses him
self with great ease and good sense His
understanding is of that ineisive character
that soon probes question to the bottom,
no matter how much the politicians or
newspapers may labor to confuse it while
his judgment is so deliberate, honest, and
truthful in its operation, that it may be inn
plicitly relied upon to arrive at a fair and