Ulysses S. Grant: conversations and unpublished letters

Preface

Having married, on the 27th of October, 1863, Miss Mary Frances Grant, youngest daughter of Mr. Jesse Root and Hannah Grant, of Covington, Ky., in the course of time I came thus into frequent contact with General Grant by visits at his home and otherwise. From the 6th to the 12th of July, 1878, General and Mrs. Grant were our guests at Copenhagen, Denmark.

During these visits, etc., the general and I conversed freely on various subjects ; he readily answered all questions I put to him. I generally made a memorandum of the most interesting things he had said. He was one of the most instructive and interesting talkers I ever conversed with. His conversations had wit and humor in them. He was well versed, not only in the history of the United States, but also in regard to the various resources of the several States and Territories of the Union ; to say nothing of his accurate knowledge of recent events in European and oriental countries.

8 PREFACE.

We also exchanged letters. Some letters from him to other members of his father's family also fell into my hands. Some of them throw fresh light on both his private and public character, as well as on several of his earlier campaigns.

Neither the conversations nor the letters contained in the following pages have ever been published. Friends in civil and military life have heard me relate some of the former, and seen some of the latter ; at their earnest solicitations I have consented to publish them all ; otherwise it would never have occurred to me to do so.

I have endeavored to give the letters and the conversations in their historical order. Some of his earlier letters suggested questions vvhich I put to him in order to elicit a fuller account of things alluded to therein.

My sole object in sending out this little volumie is to serve the cause of truth in reference to a man who has played an important part in the recent history of our country. M. J. C.

East Orange, N, J., November, 1896.

Table Of Contents

CHAPTER

PAGE

I. General Grant's Visit to Copenhagen

Chapter I

General Grant's Visit to Copenliagen — Incidents and Views,

During his trip around the world General Grant visited Denmark. On July 5, 1878, they (the general and his wife) left Hamburg by rail for Lubeck, in order to see that quaint old city. On the evening of the same day they took a steamer for Copenhagen, arriving there the following morning at seven o'clock.^ The

'John Russell Young in his work, Around the World with General Grant (vol. i, p. 436), writes as follows : " We leave Hamburg on July 6, journey rapidly through Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark, and cross the Great Belt," etc. Mr. Young may have done so, for he did not accompany General and Mrs. Grant to Copenhagen ; nor did he call either on them or on me during the time they were my guests.

steamer on which they had come was flying the American flag in his honor. Quite a number of people had gathered at the landing, though nothing had been said or published about the date of his coming. They cheered him lustily as he and Mrs. Grant stepped ashore. They were driven at once to my house, where they were my guests until July 12, when they took a steamer for Christiania, Norway.

During these six days I accompanied them to different points and places of interest in and around Copenhagen, including two picture galleries, the Royal Library, six different museums, thirteen scientific and thirty charitable institutions. I was somewhat surprised at the general's accurate knowledge of Danish history, and of the agricultural, industrial, commercial, and financial resources of that country. Nor was his knowledge defective about the educational institutions of

VISIT TO COPENHAGEN. 1 3

Denmark. He informed me that he had carefully read both the diplomatic correspondence and the consular reports as soon as they were published by the state department. He was highly pleased at the perfection of the Danish public-school system, believing it to be about equal to ours. He thought that the Prussian, the Danish, and the American public schools were the best in the world, and that the percentage of illiteracy in these three countries was smaller than that of any other country.

We made several excursions to different parts of the kingdom. He noticed that where it was possible every foot of ground was under cultivation, that the people appeared to be intelligent, and to live in comfortable circumstances. He was correct in believing that there was no abject poverty among the Danish people. In a letter written to me from Paris on December 10, 1878, referring to his visit to Denmark, he writes among other things as follows : ^

*' Since leaving Copenhagen Mrs. Grant and I have visited every capital in Europe not previously visited by us. I can say with good earnestness that no part of our journeyings gave us more pleasure than that through the Scandinavian countries; and no people have impressed me more favorably."

Among the places we visited was Elsinore {Daft. Helsingor), a seaport twentyfour miles north of Copenhagen, situated on the west shore of the Sound, and at its narrowest part three and a half miles west southwest of the town of Helsingborg, in Sweden. Here the '' Sound dues " were formerly collected of all vessels that passed either way; but during the first part of the present century they were

' The letters quoted in these pages are in my possession, and, if necessary, open for inspection or comparison.

VISIT TO COPENHAGEN. 1 5

gradually abolished by treaty arrangements with the different maritime nations. Here also Shakespeare laid the scene of his ''Hamlet," an historical blunder on the part of the great dramatist, as Jutland, and not Seeland, was Hamlet's country. Hamlet's ( supposed ) grave and the pond where Ophelia is said to have drowned herself were pointed out to the party. Mrs. Grant had a copy of Hamlet with her, and seemed to believe all the guide said to us respecting those places, while the general, with a twinkle in his eyes and a smile on his lips, said : " I think these stories and places are as mythical as is the story of Holger Danske " (who is said to have resided in the vaults of the Castle of Kronborg near by, and who never appeared above ground save when the country was in danger, in order to march at the head of the Danish Army). But he believed in the reality of Saxo Grammaticus, a famous Danish writer of the twelfth century, who was born in this town.

Arrangements having been made through the usual diplomatic channels to present General and Mrs. Grant to their majesties, the King and Queen of Denmark, we drove, on Wednesday, July lo, to Bernstorff Castle, one of the royal summer residences, ten miles from Copenhagen, where we arrived at five o'clock P. M., the appointed hour. The interview between General and Mrs. Grant and their Danish majesties lasted an hour, during which various subjects relating to the United States and Denmark were discussed. The latter were surprised at the general's accurate knowledge of Danish history, politics, resources, etc. Some flattering remarks were made by the king and queen in reference to the writer which need not be repeated here.

The interview was followed by a banquet given by their majesties in honor of

VISIT TO COPENHAGEN. 1/

General and Mrs. Grant, at which were present, besides the hosts and guests of honor, the crown prince and crown princess, the queen's court ladies, the king's ministers and court officials, the general of the army and the admiral of the navy, and the writer. The conversation was general, almost all the guests speaking English. It was noticed that General Grant drank no wine, except a few drops of champagne when the king proposed his health. Here it may be stated that General Grant declined with sincere thanks a banquet that the Minister of Foreign Affairs intended to give in his honor ; as, also, one that the writer had wished to give at Klampenborg, a seaside resort, ten miles from Copenhagen. He said that he was tired of being " banqueted ; " that they had come here to rest for a week.

After dinner the queen requested the general to inscribe his name in an album

containing the autographs of emperors 2 l8 ULYSSES S. GRANT.

and empresses, kings and queens, princes and princesses, etc. He was watched by all the guests. Afterward Admiral Irminger, the commander of the king's steam yacht, said to the writer, " The manner in which General Grant inscribed his name in the album stamps him a great man."

One evening we went to the Tivoli Garden, a place of innocent amusement which people of all classes and ranks frequent during the summer season. On account of its fine and extensive grounds, its tasteful buildings and beautiful flower beds, its two superior orchestras, its open pantomime theater, panoramas, physical and chemical experiments, gymnastic feats, festive fireworks, its excellent restaurant, and small admission fee, the Tivoli Garden of Copenhagen is unrivaled by any similar institution in Europe. General Grant was highly pleased with it ; he thought it a fine thing for those who are unable to spend the summer season in the country

VISIT TO COPENHAGEN. I9

or at a seaside resort. " All cities ought to have similar places," he said, " where the rich and the poor, the high and the low may meet on a footing of equality ; where they may have aesthetic, instructive, and other innocent amusements ; and where all behave themselves in a proper manner, as is the case in the Tivoli Garden of Copenhagen. It would keep the poor people from grumbhng, as well as from revolutionary tendencies.'*

Chapter II

Experiences Previous to the War. During his stay in Copenhagen as my guest General Grant expressed himself freely on any subject that I happened to broach. I asked him about his residence and business in Saint Louis previous to the war. He said : *' I settled there as real estate agent late in 1858 or early in 1859. At first I believed that it would bring me more than a support ; but I was disappointed in my hopes, for that business was even then overdone in that city, at least a dozen new houses having started about the same time I began. I had to look out for something else to do." Referring to this matter in a letter to his father, dated Saint Louis, Mo., August 20, 1859, he writes :

EXPERIENCES PREVIOUS TO THE WAR. 21

*' I do not want to fly from one thing to another; nor would I; but I am compelled to make a living from the start, for which I am willing to give all my time and all my energy."

His father advised him to apply for a (as he supposed) vacant professorship of mathematics in Washington University. In reference thereto the general wrote him in the same letter as follows :

** As to the professorship you spoke of, that was filled some time ago ; and were it not, I would stand no earthly chance. Washington University, where the vacancy was to be filled, is one of the best endowed institutions in the United States, and all the professorships are sought after by persons whose early advantages were the same as mine, and who have been engaged in teaching all their mature years. Quimby, who was the best mathematician in my class, and who was for several years an assistant at West Point and for nine years a professor in an institution in New York, was an unsuccessful applicant. The appointment is given to the most distinguished man in his department in the country, and an author."

The general also told me that he had made application for the appointment of county engineer, but failed to secure it. In reference to this latter he wrote in the same letter as follows :

" I am not oversanguine of getting the appointment mentioned in my last letter. The Board of Commissioners who make the appointment are divided, three Free Soilers to two opposed; and although friends who are recommending me are the very best citizens of this place and members of all parties, I fear they will make strictly party nominations for all the offices under their control. . . . Since putting in my application for the appointment of county engineer I have learned that the place is not likely to be filled before Feb-

EXPERIENCES PREVIOUS TO THE WAR. 23

ruary next. What I shall do will depend entirely upon what I can get to do."

After having settled in Saint Louis as real estate agent he wrote to his father in reference to this matter, in a letter dated Saint Louis, Mo., March 12, 1859, ^^ ^o^- lows :

"We are now living in the lower part of the city, fully two miles from my office. The house is a comfortable little one, just suited to my means. We have one spare room, and also a spare bed in the children's room, so that we can accommodate any of our friends that are likely to come to see us. I want two of the girls [meaning two of his sisters] or all of them [he had at that time three unmarried sisters] for that matter, to come and pay us a long visit soon."

In reference to the appointment of county engineer referred to he wrote to his father, in a letter dated September 23, 1859, ^^ ^^^" lows :

'' I have waited for some time to write you the result of the action of the county commissioners upon the appointment of a county engineer. The question has at length been settled, and, I am sorry to say, adversely to me. The two Democratic commissioners voted for me and the Free Soilers against me. What I shall now go at I have not determined, but I hope something before a great while. Next month I will get possession of my new house, when my expenses will be reduced so much that a very moderate salary will support me. . . . You may judge from the result of the action of the county commissioners that I am strongly identified with the Democratic Party; such is not the case. I never voted an out-and-out Democratic ticket in my life. I voted for Buchanan for President to defeat Fremont, but not because he was my first choice. In all other elections I have universally selected the candidates that, in my estimation, were

EXPERIENCES PREVIOUS TO THE WAR. 25

the best fitted for the different offices; and it never happens that such men are all arranged on one side. The strongest friend I had in the Board of Commissioners is a Free Soiler; but opposition between parties is so strong that he would not vote for anyone, no matter how friendly, unless one at least of his own party would go with him. The Free Soil Party felt themselves bound to provide for one of their own party who was defeated for the office of county engineer."

In the same letter he writes of his family thus:

" Julia and the children are all well. Fred and Buck go to the school everyday. They never think of asking to stay at home.'*

When the writer went abroad for the first time in an official capacity, the late William H. Seward, then Secretary of State, said to him jocosely and with a merry twinkle in his eye : " Consider every man a scoundrel until you have proved him to be honest." General Grant, on the other hand, considered every man honest until he proved him to be a scoundrel. The following incident is an illustration of this good trait in Grant's character; it is stated by himself in a letter to one of his brothers, dated Saint Louis, Mo., October 24,

1859:

** I have been postponing writing to you,

hoping to make a return for your horse ;

but as yet I have received nothing for him.

About two weeks ago a man spoke to me

for him and said that he would try him

the next day, and if he suited give me

one hundred dollars for him. I have not

seen the man since; but one week ago

last Saturday he went to the stable and got

the horse, saddle, and bridle ; since which

I have seen neither man nor horse. From

this I presume he must like him. The

man, I understand, lives in Florisant,

about twelve miles from the city.

" P. S.— The man that has your horse is

EXPERIENCES PREVIOUS TO THE WAR. 2/

Captain Covington, owner of a row of six three-story brick houses in this city ; and the probabihties are that he intends to give me an order on his agent for the money on the first of the month, when the rents are paid. At all events, I imagine the horse is perfectly safe."

In reference to his employment, or rather want of employment, Grant whites in the same letter as follows :

" I am still unemployed, but expect to have a place Jn the customhouse on the first of next month. My name has been forwarded for the appointment of superintendent, which, if I do not get, will not probably be filled at all. In that case there is a vacant desk which I may get that pays twelve hundred dollars per annum. The other will be worth from fifteen hundred to eighteen hundred dollars, and will occupy but little time."

Chapter III

At the Breaking Out of tlie War. In the course of our conversation on the subject of his failure to obtain employment in Saint Louis, I asked the general whether he did not think that it was providential that every avenue of earning a livelihood in Saint Louis was closed against him, in order that he might be compelled to go where it would be easier for him to find an opening for re-entering the army at the outbreak of the war. He smiled and said, '* Perhaps so." He fully believed in an overruling Providence. Indeed, I gathered from his remarks, made at different times, that he believed the fundamental doctrines of the Christian religion, and in the necessity of the Christian Church for the maintenance and advancement of

BREAKING OUT OF THE WAR. 29

moral and religious culture among the people. While he never made, previous to his last illness, so far as I know, a public profession of religion in the sense of what Methodists call conversion or regeneration, yet he believed in the reality of such '* a change of heart " in many of his friends and acquaintances, among whom is his youngest sister Mary, of whose faith he said during his last illness: ''I wish I had the strong faith that my sister Mary has." Before and after the war he was in the habit of attending public worship, usually at a Methodist church ; for he was very fond of good and earnest preaching. On one occasion his sister Mary spoke in his presence of the Rev. Mr. Blank as being a good man, when, with a merry twinkle in his eye, he said, " Why, Mary, you speak of preachers as if their being good is an unusual thing."

General Grant was always an early riser. On the morning of the third day of his sojourn at my house in Copenhagen, before six o'clock, he entered my study, where I was engaged in my private devotion. Instead of withdrawing, he came and knelt at my side until its close. Whenever he had a clergyman as his guest, he always requested him to '^ say grace " at the table. During February, 1 88 1, my wife and myself were his guests in New York. On the following Sunday morning we all attended church and heard an excellent sermon. On returning home, my wife asked him whether he would not like to have his second son to be a preacher? He replied,

''Yes, if he could preach like Dr. ."

After his failure to get any kind of employment in Saint Louis, Grant moved to Galena, 111., where his father employed him as a clerk in his leather and findings store. (And here it may be proper to say that Grant never worked in his father's tannery, as has been so often stated by different writers and speakers.) One of his

BREAKING OUT OF THE WAR. 3 1

duties was to collect outstanding debts in various parts of the Northwest. I remember hearing his father say in reference to this subject that " Ulysses sometimes spent the amount he collected for horse and buggy hire/' and that he ''was not a great success as a collector." The general himself told me that this business was not to his liking, that he had no " faculty for dunning people ;" and that, while he hated war, it was a relief to him to get back into the army. ''When the war broke out," he said, " I felt it my duty to offer my services to the government that had educated me."

In reference to the raising of the first company of volunteers in Galena he wrote to his father, in a letter dated Camp Yates, near Springfield, May 6, 1861, as follows:

'*At the time our first Galena company was raised I did not feel at liberty to engage in hot haste, but took an active interest in drilling them and imparting all the instruction I could, and at the request of the members of the company and of Mr. Washburn I came here for the purpose of assisting for a short time in camp, and, if necessary, giving my services for the war. The next two days after my arrival it was rainy and muddy, so that the troops could not drill, and I concluded to go home. Governor Yates heard of it, and requested me to remain. Since then I have been acting in that capacity, and for the last few days have been in command of this camp. The last of the six regiments called for from this State will probably leave by to-morrow or the day following, and then I shall be relieved from this command. The Legislature of this State provided for the raising of eleven additional regiments and a battalion of artillery, and a portion of these the governor will appoint me to muster into the service of the State, when I presume my services may end. I might have got the colonelcy of a regiment possibly ; but I

BREAKING OUT OF THE WAR. 33

was perfectly sick of the political wirepulling for all these commissions, and would not engage in it. I shall be no ways backward in offering my services when and where they are required ; but I feel that I have done more now than I could do serving as captain under a green colonel ; and if this thing continues, they will want more men at a later day. There have been full thirty thousand more volunteers offered their services than can be accepted under the present call, without including the call made by the State; but I can go back to Galena and drill the three or four companies there, and render them efficient for any future call. My own opinion is that this war will be but of short duration. The administration has acted most prudently and sagaciously so far in not bringing on a conflict before it had its forces fully marshaled. When they do strike, our thoroughly loyal States will be fully

protected, and a few decisive victories in 3 some of the Southern parts will send the secession army howling, and the leaders in the rebellion will flee the country. All the States will then be loyal for a generation to come ; Negroes will depreciate so rapidly in value that nobody will want to own them, and their masters will be loudest in their declamation against the institution in a political and economical view. The Negro will never disturb the country again. The worst that is to be apprehended from him is now : he may revolt and cause more destruction than any Northern man wants to see. A Northern army may be required in the next ninety days to go South to suppress a Negro insurrection."

It appears from the above letter that Grant's early views about the duration of the war were similar to those of many other intelligent men. He told me that at that time he had no idea that the war would last longer than a few months. He, like others, had underrated the plans and dc-

BREAKING OUT OF THE WAR. 35

termination of the Southern leaders of the rebellion, to say nothing of their Northern abettors, who then were as determined to divide the Union as their Southern friends.

With regard to Grant's offering his services to the government, he wrote, in a letter to his father, dated Galena, May 30, 1 86 1, as follows:

" I have now been home nearly a week, but return to Springfield to-day. I have tendered my services to the government, and go to-day to make myself useful, if possible, from this until all our national difficulties are ended. During the six days I have been at home I have felt all the time as if a duty was being neglected that was paramount to any other duty I ever owed. I have every reason to be well satisfied with myself for the services already rendered, but to stop now would not do."

CHAPTER IV. Grant^s Promotion

In his Memoirs Grant gives a description of what he did from the time of his return to Springfield, 111., to July 3, when he wrote a letter to his father, dated Mexico, Mo., July 3, 1861, in which occurs the following concerning army matters as well as his promotion :

♦* The papers keep you posted as to army movements ; and as you are already in possession of my notions on secession, nothing more is wanted on that point. I find here, however, a different state of feeling from what I expected to exist in any part of the South. The majority in this part of the State are secessionists, as we would term them, but deplore the present state of affairs. They would make almost

GRANT'S PROMOTION. 37

any sacrifice to have the Union restored, but regard it as dissolved, and nothing is left for them but to choose between two evils. Many seem to be entirely ignorant of the object of present hostilities. You can't convince them but what the ultimate object is to extinguish, by force, slavery. Then, too, they feel that the Southern Confederacy will never consent to give up their State ; and as they — the South — are the strong party, it is prudent to favor them from the start. There is never a movement of troops made that the secession journals throughout the country do not give a startling account of their almost annihilation at the hands of the State troops, while the facts are, there are no engagements. My regiment has been reported cut to pieces once that I know of, and I don't know but oftener, while a gun has not been fired at us. These reports go uncontradicted here, and give confirmation to the conviction already entertained, that one Southerner is equal to five Northerners. We believe that they are deluded, and know that if they are not, we are.

** Since I have been in command of this military district (two weeks) I have received the greatest hospitality and attention from the citizens about here. I have had every opportunity of conversing with them freely, and learning their sentiments; and although I have confined myself strictly to the truth as to what has been the result of the different engagements, the relative strength, etc., and the objects of the administration and the North generally, yet they don't believe a word, I think.

'' I see from the papers that my name has been sent in for brigadier general. This is certainly very complimentary to me, particularly as I have never asked a friend to intercede in my behalf. My only acquaintance with men of influence in the grant's promotion. 39

State was while on duty at Springfield, and I there saw so much pulling and hauling for favors that I determined never to ask for anything, and never have, not even a colonelcy. I wrote a letter to Washington, tendering my services, but they declined Governor Yates's and Mr. Trumbull's indorsement.

" My services with the regiment I am now with have been highly satisfactory to me. I took it in a very disorganized, demoralized, and insubordinate condition, and have worked it up to a reputation equal to the best ; and, I believe, with the good will of all the officers and all the men. Hearing that I was likely to be promoted, the officers, with great unanimity, have requested to be attached to my command. This I do not want you to read to others, for I very much dislike speaking of myself.

" We are now breaking up camp here gradually. In a few days the last of us will be on our way for the Missouri River, at what point cannot be definitely determined, wood and water being a consideration as well as a healthy fine site for a large encampment."