SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF GENERAL U. S. GRANT.

General Ulysses Simpson Grant (or, as he was originally named, Hiram Ulysses Grant) was born on the 27th of April, 1822, at Point Pleasant, Clement County, Ohio; and is a descendant, in the eighth generation, of Matthew Grant, who came from England, in 1630, and was a first settler of Dorchester, Mass., and subsequently of Windsor, Conn. His father, Jesse Root Grant, a tanner by trade, and his mother, Hannah Simpson, were both natives of Pennsylvania, who had removed to Ohio, and were there married in June, 1821. The child grew to be a sturdy, fearless, and pertinacious urchin, whose good nature made him a general favorite, and whose “ruling passion,” almost from the time he could go alone, was for horses. At school, he was faithful, diligent, and painstaking, showing an appreciation of the value of an education, but developing no especial eminence, except, perhaps, a fondness for mathematics. But, out of school, he was to be found not far away from the horses. He learned to drive alone at the age of seven and a half years, and harnessed horses when he was so small that he had to get up into the manger to put the bridle and collar on, and then turn over the half-bushel and stand on it, in order to throw the harness on. And when a circus, or travelling show, came through the village where he was, or into its neighborhood, he was inevitably “on hand.” If the ring-master called out for some boy in the audience to try and ride the pony, little Ulysses would present himself, eager to seize the opportunity, “and,” says his father in the “New York Ledger,” “whatever he undertook to ride he rode.” This practice he kept up, until he got to be so large that he was ashamed to ride a pony.

Note.—Supposing many readers of this volume would like to read something of the life of General U. S. Grant, we insert this sketch for their benefit.—Publisher.

“Once, when he was a boy, a show came along in which there was a mischievous pony, trained to go round the ring like lightning, and which was expected to throw any boy that attempted to ride him.

“’Will any boy come forward and ride this pony?’” shouted the ring-master.

“Ulysses stepped forward, and mounted the pony. The performance began. Round and round the ring went the pony, faster and faster, making the greatest effort to dismount his rider. But Ulysses sat as steady as if he had grown to the pony’s back. Presently out came a large monkey and sprang up behind Ulysses. The people set up a great shout of laughter, and on the pony ran; but it all produced no effect on the rider. Then the ring-master made the monkey jump up upon Ulysses’ shoulders, standing with his feet on his shoulders, and with his hands holding on to his hair. At this there was another and a still louder shout, but not a muscle of Ulysses’ face moved. There was not a tremor of his nerves. A few more rounds, and the ring-master gave it up; he had come across a boy that the pony and the monkey both could not dismount.

“Ulysses had the habit of riding our horses to water, standing up on their bare backs. He began this practice when about five years old. At eight or nine he would ride them at the top of their speed, standing upon one foot and balancing himself by the bridle reins. The ground over which he used to make these performances was a little descending towards the river; a near neighbor’s boy who undertook to rival him in speed, although without standing up, was unfortunately thrown from his horse and killed.”

He early acquired the habit of breaking horses to the harness, and developed a peculiar faculty for training them to pace. “It became known in the neighborhood,” says his father, in the article from which we have already quoted, “and people used to apply to him to break their horses to pace; but he had an idea that it was degrading, and would never undertake it.

“One day a neighbor came to me and said, ‘Ulysses has a remarkable faculty to teach a horse to pace. I have a fine young horse; now how can I get Ulysses to teach him to pace?’

“Said I: ‘You mustn’t say a word to him about it, but send him on a mission to some place, and get him, while he is gone, to teach the horse to pace.’

“Said he, ‘I will do it.’ So he came over again and said to Ulysses, ‘I want to send a letter, in a hurry, thirteen miles to Decatur, and I will give you two dollars to get on my horse and carry it.’

“Ulysses was then nine or ten years old. He was fond of making money, and fond of that kind of business, and he answered, ‘I will go.’

“Just as he was starting off the owner of the horse cried out after him, ‘I want you to teach that horse to pace.’

“The horse had never paced a step before. But Ulysses accomplished the task. He returned the horse at night a perfect pacer. The letter was all a sham. Ulysses found out the trick, and nobody after that could ever get him to break a horse to pace.”

When only ten or twelve years of age, the boy’s energy and fertility of resource enabled him to render to his father assistance equal to that of a full-grown man. A remarkable feat, by which, with only the help of a large stout horse, he contrived to do the loading and hauling of a large quantity of fourteen-feet logs for a building which his father was erecting, is thus described in the fathers own words: “A large sugar-tree had been felled, so that it lay aslant, one end resting on the ground and the other elevated. He had hitched the horse Dave to the end of a hewn log, and hauled it upon this sugar-tree, the end projecting over far enough to back the wagon under it. Three made a load; and when he had got three hauled up in this way, he backed the hind end of the wagon up under them, and hitching the powerful horse in front by means of a long chain which extended over the whole length of the wagon-body, he pulled them, one at a time, into the wagon. This was much talked of in the neighborhood, as it was considered a great achievement for a boy of his size. He worked the whole seven months, and until the job was finished.”

The lad, however, showed an evident disrelish for his father’s business, and a decided preference for some active out-of-door employment, or for a thorough education. These, Mr. Grant’s somewhat straitened circumstances prevented him from attaining; but finally, through the kindness of Senator Thomas Morris, of Ohio, he heard that the Hon. Thos. L. Hamer, member of Congress from his own district, had an appointment to the Military Academy at West Point at his disposal. On application to him, Ulysses was appointed, and having passed the preliminary examinations, he entered the Academy on the 1st of July, 1839. There he manifested the same studious qualities which he had while in school, ranking No. 21 in his class, of which only thirty-nine out of nearly one hundred graduated in 1843, his standing being best in artillery and infantry tactics, mathematics, engineering, and horsemanship. Upon graduating he was, in consequence of there being no existing vacancy, made brevet Second Lieutenant of the Tenth Infantry Regiment, and performed duty as a private for a while after joining it at Jefferson Barracks, near St. Louis. In 1844, his regiment removed to Red River in Louisiana; and in 1845, formed a part of the “army of occupation” on the Texan Border at the beginning of the war with Mexico. Meanwhile, he had declined the higher rank of First Lieutenant in the Seventh Infantry; preferring to share the fortunes of his old regiment, where chance of service seemed more immediate. In May, 1846, he was distinguished for gallantry and courage at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma; received honorable mention for good conduct at the storming of Monterey; participated, in 1847, in the capture of Vera Cruz, and was made quartermaster of his regiment, serving in this capacity during the remainder of the campaign, but showing no disposition to avail himself of his privilege of remaining in his own department in time of battle. At the assault of Molino del Rey, and the storming of Chapultepec, his daring and skill elicited the highest commendations of his superiors, and he was made a first lieutenant on the spot. Indeed, the flanking maneuver by which, with a few men only, he turned and carried the first barrier at Chapultepec, seems to have been the germ of the celebrated flanking movements which he has so often since tried, and with such brilliant success, upon larger battle-fields. He was brevetted captain for this achievement, his commission dating from September 13, 1847. He participated in fourteen battles during the Mexican War, and soon after its close in August, 1848, was married to Miss Julia A. Dent, residing near St. Louis, and whose brother, now General Dent, was one of his West Point classmates. Shortly after this he was ordered with his regiment to Detroit, Mich., and subsequently to Sackett’s Harbor, N. Y. In the autumn of 1851, his regiment was sent to Oregon, with head-quarters at Fort Dallas, and while on duty there, August, 1853, he received his full commission as captain. Seeing but little prospect, either of active employment or of further promotion, Grant now decided to return to civil life, and, on the 31st of July, 1854, resigned his commission in the army.

Retiring to a farm which his wife had received from her father, about nine miles from St. Louis, Mo., and which his own father had stocked completely, he entered upon his new life with his accustomed energy and fidelity, and no man ever worked harder. He built, in part with his own hands, a small house of hewn logs, for his family to live in; and in all the departments of husbandry proved himself a thorough farmer. In winter he hired help to cut wood, and hauled it to St. Louis and Carondelet, where he found a market; and there are many now living who distinctly remember the present General, as he then appeared, dressed in his blouse, with old felt hat, and pants tucked into the tops of his boots. In summer he “turned an honest penny” by acting as collector of taxes in his county; but, though honest and persevering, he lacked the stern and unscrupulous character which is essential to success in that line of business; and the duties of an auctioneer, at which he occasionally tried his hand, were equally unsuited to his tastes. After four years of arduous farming, at the end of which he was not as well off as when he began, he quitted it and removed to St. Louis, where he entered the real estate business with a Mr. Boggs. Finding, after a few months’ trial, that the profits were hardly sufficient to support two families, he gave up his interest to his partner, and next obtained a position in the Custom House, which, however, he held but two months. In 1859 he accepted an offer of partnership from his father, who with two other sons was conducting a well-established and profitable leather business at Galena, Illinois. He entered upon it, taking hold of the business with his accustomed industry, and speedily becoming an excellent salesman. Yet he took so little pains to extend his acquaintance in the place, that his father relates that “after he had joined the army and had begun to be distinguished, citizens of the town would stop in front of our store, within six feet of the windows, and look in to see which of the Grants it was that was absent and had suddenly become famous.”

On the eventful morning when the telegraph flashed to every corner of this western continent, the news that Sumter had been fired upon by Southern guns, and with that news the President’s proclamation calling for 75,000 troops, Grant was at his store, and his response was prompt and characteristic. Taking his coat from the counter where it lay, he drew it on, simply remarking, “Uncle Sam educated me for the army, and although I have served through one war, I feel I am still a little in debt for my education, and I am ready and willing to discharge the obligation. I am for the war, to put down this wicked rebellion.” Into the street he went, talked with some of his acquaintances, and speedily raised a company of volunteers, with which he repaired to Springfield and tendered their services to Governor Yates. That indefatigable and patriotic State officer has since given the following interesting account of his first acquaintance with the future hero of the war: “In April, 1861, he tendered his personal services to me, saying, that he ‘had been the recipient of a military education at West Point, and that now, when the country was involved in a war for its preservation and safety, he thought it his duty to offer his services in defense of the Union, and that he would esteem it a privilege to be assigned to any position where he could be useful.’ The plain, straightforward demeanor of the man, and the modesty and earnestness which characterized his offer of assistance, at once awakened a lively interest in him, and impressed me with a desire to secure his counsel for the benefit of volunteer organizations then forming for government service. At first I assigned, him a desk in the Executive office; and his familiarity with military organizations and regulations made him an invaluable assistant in my own and the office of the Adjutant-General. Soon his admirable qualities as a military commander became apparent, and I assigned him to the camps of organization at ‘Camp Yates,’ Springfield, ‘Camp Grant,’ Mattoon, and ‘Camp Douglas,’ at Anna, Union County, at which the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 18th, 19th, and 21st regiments of Illinois Volunteers, raised under the call of the President of the 15th of April, and under the ‘Ten Regiment Bill,’ of the extraordinary session of the legislature convened April 23, 1861, were rendezvoused. His employment had special reference to the organization and muster of these forces—the first six into the United States, and the last three into the State service. This was accomplished about the 10th of May, 1861, at which time he left the State for a brief period on a visit to his father, at Covington, Kentucky.” At this juncture Governor Yates found himself greatly perplexed to find a competent officer to command the 21st regiment, Illinois Volunteers, in camp at Mattoon, and which had become much demoralized by the incompetency of its officers. Acting upon his own favorable impressions of Grant, and by the earnest advice of those who knew him best, he telegraphed to Grant to take the charge of the refractory regiment and bring it into a proper state of discipline. Grant promptly appeared at Mattoon, assumed command of the regiment, June 15, 1861, and removed it to Caseyville for reorganization. In Governor Yates’s words: “Thirty days previous to that time, the regiment numbered over 1000 men; but in consequence of laxity in discipline of the first commanding officer, and other discouraging obstacles connected with the acceptance of troops at that time, but 603 were found willing to enter the three years’ service. In less than ten days Colonel Grant filled the regiment to the maximum standard, and brought it to a state of discipline seldom attained in the volunteer service in so short a time.” Quincy, Illinois, was at this time supposed to be in danger from attack by Missouri rebels, and an application reached Governor Yates for a force sufficient for its protection. The railroads were lacking in the necessary facilities for transportation, and the Governor was sorely puzzled how to meet the demand, when he received word from Colonel Grant saying, “Send my regiment, and I will find the transportation.” At once the order was given to send the 21st, and before night it commenced the march on foot, accomplishing the whole distance of 120 miles on foot (the only regiment that left the camp of organization on foot), and arrived in good time and excellent order. The duty to which the 21st, in company with others, was assigned, was the protection of the Hannibal and St. Louis Railroad, and it being necessary that a brigadier-general should be assigned to the command of the regiments employed upon this service, the choice fell upon Grant (although the youngest colonel on the ground), who took command at Mexico, Missouri, upon the 31st of July, 1861, being fully commissioned on the 9th of the following month.

Brigadier-General Grant was now sent with a large force into Southern Missouri, then threatened by the rebel general, Jeff. Thompson. He superintended the erection of fortifications at Ironton and Marble Creek, and having garrisoned both places, hastened to the defense of Jefferson City, which he protected from rebel attack for ten days. Thompson having abandoned his purpose, Grant was next ordered to the command of the important post of Cairo, Ill., which commanded the Ohio and Upper Mississippi rivers, and was a depot of supplies for an extensive region. This district included Western Kentucky, whose citizens were at that time trying to remain “on the fence,” until they could better see which side was to succeed; and General Grant, learning that the rebels had finally crossed the lines, and possessed themselves of Columbus and Hickman, on the Mississippi, and Bowling Green, on the Green River, promptly availed himself of the opportunity of seizing positions within the State furnished by these violations of Kentucky’s proposed neutrality, and quietly sent troops (September 6) up the Ohio, to Paducah, at the mouth of the Tennessee, and (on the 25th) to Smithland, at the mouth of the Cumberland River—thus effectually closing two of the principal avenues through which the rebels obtained supplies of food, clothing, arms, etc., from the North. He next turned his attention to Columbus, Ky., then held by the rebel Major-General Polk, but was prevented from attacking him by the withdrawal of a large portion of his force to St. Louis; and on the 11th, learning that the rebel general, Jeff. Thompson, was contemplating a raid through southwestern Missouri, he sent an expedition which defeated and routed him near Dallas, on the 21st of October. Then, being apprised of Jeff. Thompson’s intention to blockade the Mississippi River, and move upon his own position at Cairo, he determined to break up the camp at Belmont, Mo., where the rebels were concentrating. At the head of two brigades, he moved down the Mississippi in steamers. On the 6th of November they reached Belmont, marched rapidly upon the enemy’s camp, two and a half miles distant, forced their way over all obstructions, and surprised the rebels, capturing camp equipage, artillery, small arms; burning tents, blankets, etc., and capturing many prisoners. On their return to the steamers, however, the victorious Union army was met by about 4,000 rebel troops, who, under command of Generals Polk, Pillow, and Cheatham, were hastening to reinforce their comrades, and a fierce battle ensued. The Union force, although losing some of the prisoners it had taken, succeeded in reaching the river, and embarking again in safety, under cover of gun-boats, bringing with them two cannon which they had taken, and spiking two others, which they were obliged to leave. The advantages of this fight, on the whole, were with the Union troops, who also gained new confidence in themselves, and in their commander.

General Grant remained for some time in command of the Cairo district (which was subsequently enlarged, so as to include all the southern portion of Illinois, that part of Kentucky west of the Cumberland River, and the southern counties of Missouri), and performed a most important work in reorganizing, training, and distributing to various posts, the large number of newly mustered troops constantly sent into his district. On the 14th of January, 1862, he made an extended reconnoissance in force for the purpose of ascertaining the rebel strength and position around Columbus; and in fact, kept up such a feint of attack upon that point as led to large concentration there of the rebel forces. Meanwhile a fleet of gun-boats had been constructed above Cairo, manned and placed under command of Flag-officer A. H. Foote. Then, when all was ready, Grant secretly withdrew the two divisions with which he had been threatening Columbus, and leaving one to defend his base at Cairo, joined the other to two large divisions, which had been concentrated at Paducah (at the mouth of the Tennessee), and at Smithland (at the mouth of the Cumberland). With these, he then moved on Fort Henry, on the Tennessee; at which point, also, the gun-boats arrived on the morning of February 6, in advance of the troops, who had been delayed by the condition of the roads. The fleet, however, attacked at once, and after a brief but spirited engagement, the fort surrendered, the rebels outside making their escape to Fort Donelson. Grant, whose plans had thus been anticipated by the gallant Foote, now undertook the capture of Fort Donelson, a larger and stronger work, garrisoned by over 20,000 troops, and which still obstructed the passage of the Cumberland River, and the advance of the Union army southward. By the evening of the 12th, the fort was invested on all but the river front, which was, however, covered on the 14th by the arrival of the gun-boats, and a combined land and water attack was made, which, owing to damage done to the boats, was unsuccessful. On the following morning, a sortie by the rebel garrison broke the Union right and captured two batteries. Rallying to their work, the Union troops recaptured nearly all their guns, and then ensued a desperate, shifting, uncertain, hand-to-hand fight, unfavorable on the whole to the Union side. But the cool, calm judgment, and the indomitable tenacity of Grant wrested victory from the very jaws of defeat; and the desperate heroism of his men, inspired by his example, secured for his army by nightfall, a position which, it was evident, would give them the possession of the fort on the morrow. Generals Floyd and Pillow escaped during the night with a brigade of rebel troops, and Buckner, who was left in command, sent to General Grant, at early dawn on the following morning (16th), a proposition for an armistice pending negotiations for surrender. To this Grant sent his brief but famous reply: “No other terms than unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works.” Finding parley useless, the rebel General was obliged to surrender, which he did rather ungraciously; and the fort, with 13,000 prisoners, 3,000 horses, 48 field-pieces, 17 heavy guns, 20,000 stand of arms, and a large quantity of stores, etc., fell into the possession of the Union army; and on the following day, two rebel Tennesseean regiments, uninformed of the surrender, marched into the fort with colors flying, and were made prisoners. The capture of Forts Henry and Donelson, rendered Columbus and Bowling Green untenable by the rebel forces,—General Polk retreating to Island No. 10, and Johnson to Nashville. General Grant was now commissioned a Major-General of Volunteers, dating from February 16, 1862; and March 5th was assigned to the command of the new military district of West Tennessee, bounded on the south by the Tennessee River and the Mississippi State line, and on the west by the Mississippi River, as far north as Cairo. From this district, Grant now proposed to drive out the rebels, and he accordingly sent gun-boats up the Cumberland, accompanied along the west bank of the river by a division of troops. Clarksville, an important base of supplies on the river, was captured soon after, garrisoned, and held,—the gun-boats ascending the river to open the way for General Buell’s army, then marching on Nashville. After the fall of that place, they returned to the Ohio, and reconnoitred the Tennessee River as far as Florence, Alabama. Grant, who meanwhile had been engaged in reorganizing, and sending forward troops and supplies, then moved his head-quarters to Fort Henry, from whence he scoured the country in all directions. Meanwhile General Albert Sydney Johnston, who had been obliged to vacate Nashville, had concentrated an army of 45,000 men, under able generals, at Corinth, Miss., at the junction of the Mobile and Ohio and Memphis and Charleston railroads. It was but twenty miles from Pittsburg Landing and Shiloh, on the west bank of the Tennessee, which had already been selected as a base of operations for the Union forces; and General Buell’s army of the Ohio was now en route from Nashville to meet Grant’s command there, with such haste as the roads permitted. Johnston attempted to attack Grant’s army before Buell’s arrival, and while Lew. Wallace’s division was yet at Crump’s Landing, some six miles distance from the battle-field, hoping thus to be able to conquer the Union forces in detail. At daybreak of April 6, the blow suddenly fell upon Grant’s left (Prentiss’s division), which, although surprised, fought bravely, but finally gave way under the pressure, and were hurried as prisoners to the rebel rear. Next the rebels massed upon W. H. L. Wallace’s and Sherman’s divisions, and the former General being mortally wounded, his troops were driven back. Sherman’s force, however, held its position, and repulsed the enemy in two several attacks. Meanwhile, other parts of the Union line had been fiercely attacked by large bodies of rebel troops, and had been gradually pressed back nearly two and a half miles toward the Tennessee River. Sherman had by this time taken a new position, which he held firmly against all attack; and the scattered Union batteries, being collected by General Webster (Grant’s chief of artillery), opened a steady fire upon the rebels, who were attempting to flank the Union left, with a view to possess themselves of the landing. This fire, together with that of two gun-boats in the river, and the news of the near approach of Buell’s advance, which had just arrived across the river from the scene of action, checked the rebels, and both armies rested on their arms until the following morning. In the evening, Lew. Wallace’s division reached the battle-field, and during the night, General Nelson’s division of Buell’s army crossed the river; the remainder, however, did not come over until the morning of the 7th. Assigning to the centre the troops which had stood their ground on the previous day, General Grant placed Wallace’s division on the right, and Nelson’s on the left, and boldly attacked the rebel line. The fighting, although not so heavy as on the preceding day, was spirited, and the field was substantially won by the Union troops by noon, at which time the remainder of Buell’s army came up. By about 5 P. M., the rebels, defeated, routed, and much demoralized, abandoned the field, and night fell upon what had been thus far the most sanguinary contest of the war. The Union loss, in killed, wounded, missing, and prisoners, was 13,298; that of the rebels 10,699, with a remarkable loss of general officers. The wearied troops spent the night upon the battle-field, and pursuit was made on the 8th by General Sherman, who destroyed the rebel camp and a large amount of ammunition.

On the 13th of April, General Halleck, with a powerful army, composed of sixteen divisions under Generals Grant, Buell, and Pope, advanced from Pittsburg Landing to the attack of Corinth. On the 17th May, the Union army commenced a series of regular approaches to the town, which Grant was anxious to carry (as he was confident of his ability to do) by assault. Halleck refused, and a quarrel ensued between the two, the only one recorded in Grant’s military career. On the night of the 28th, the rebels evacuated the closely invested city, moving southward along the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, to a safer position. New Orleans and Memphis had, meanwhile, surrendered to the Union flag. On the 17th, General Halleck was appointed General-in-Chief of the United States armies, and Grant was assigned to the command of a newly created department of West Tennessee, embracing Northern Mississippi, West Tennessee, Western Kentucky, and Southern Illinois. His head-quarters were at Memphis, which he quickly cleared of the illicit traffic carried on by crafty secessionists, gamblers, speculators, and smugglers. Grant now determined to attempt the reduction of Vicksburg, the key to the navigation of the Mississippi, strong by nature, and rendered apparently impregnable by military science. Even before its fortifications were completed, in the summer of 1862, Admiral Farragut’s squadron had made no impression upon it; and General Williams’s attempt to turn the current of the river through a canal cut across the peninsula, formed by the bend of the stream in front of the city, had proved a failure. After full preparation for the enterprise, General Grant, in December, began his movement down the Mississippi Central Railroad, in order to flank Vicksburg, which was to be attacked at the same time on the north and northwest, by Sherman descending the river from Memphis. His plans, however, were deranged by the pusillanimity of the colonel commanding at Holly Springs, where his chief depot of supplies was established, and he was obliged to forego his expected junction with Sherman. The latter general, unsupported by Grant, and unaware of the cause of his failure, attacked Vicksburg; but after three days’ hard fighting, was obliged to abandon the assault. Grant next descended the Mississippi to Young’s Point, a little above Vicksburg, and at first renewed the canal project, which was rendered futile by a sudden flood in the river; then he attempted an entrance to the Yazoo, by the old Yazoo Pass, and afterwards by a circuit through Steel’s and Black’s bayous, Duck and Deer creeks, and Rolling Fork and Sunflower rivers. All these attempts failing to meet the emergency, he determined—despite the numerous and apparently insuperable difficulties which presented themselves—to attack the fortress and city from below. Sending a part of the gun-boat fleet, and sixteen or eighteen transports laden with forage and supplies, past the batteries on two different nights,—a most heroic act, which was accomplished with only the loss of two transports,—General Grant marched his army through the country west of the Mississippi to Hard Times, La., a distance of seventy miles, over roads well-nigh impassable, accomplishing the distance in thirty days. The gun-boats, after an ineffectual attempt to capture Grand Gulf as a base of operations, ran the batteries in the night, and on the morning of March 30, commenced to ferry over the troops to Bruinsburg, ten miles below. This was more easily effected, inasmuch as a simultaneous demonstration by General Sherman against Haines’s Bluff, attracted all their attention in that direction. From Bruinsburg, Grant’s army moved rapidly to Port Gibson, thus flanking Grand Gulf, which was evacuated by the rebels, and immediately occupied by the Union forces as a base of operations. Here, also, they were quickly joined by General Sherman’s army, and, as had been previously arranged by Grant, Colonel Grierson starting from Lagrange, at the junction of the Mississippi Central with the Memphis and Charleston railroads, and following the lines of the Mobile and Ohio and Mississippi Central railroads, and the Meridian and Jackson roads, reached Baton Rouge on the 1st of May, having very thoroughly cut the rebel communications. Grant now threw his army between Johnston and Pemberton, routed the former, and drove the latter into Vicksburg, and by the 18th, had completely invested that city on the land side, and was in communication with the squadron and transports by way of Walnut Bluffs, above the river. On the 19th and 22d, assaults were made upon the city, but without decisive results, and a regular siege was commenced, which, after a prolonged and heroic resistance by the people and garrison, resulted in its unconditional surrender on the 4th of July, 1863. 34,620 prisoners, 211 field-pieces, 90 siege guns, and 45,000 small arms fell into the hands of the victors; in addition to which the rebels sustained a loss of 11,800 killed, wounded, or deserters. The Union losses had been 8,575 killed, wounded, and missing. Sending Sherman to Jackson, to defeat and break up the rebel General Johnston’s army, Grant sought and obtained a brief furlough—the first he had enjoyed during the two and a quarter years he had been in the army—in order to visit his family. Returning down the Mississippi—now, thanks to his genius and skill, open to navigation for its whole length—he visited General Banks at New Orleans, and while there (September 4), was seriously injured by a fall from his horse, so that it was not until November that he was able to take an active part in military affairs. He was then given the command of the Grand Military Division of the Mississippi, comprising the armies of the Cumberland, the Tennessee, and the Ohio, and promptly undertook the expulsion of the rebels from the Chattanooga Valley, and the possession of Lookout Mountain and Mission Ridge, from which points they were enabled to impede all railroad and river communication with Louisville and Nashville. The rebel General Bragg, who was besieging Chattanooga, sent word, on the 21st of November, to General Grant, that “humanity would dictate the removal of all non-combatants” from the city, as he was about to shell it. Grant’s plans, however, had all been carefully laid, and were now in course of execution, and the only reply to this rebel braggart was in the shape of quick, hard blows. Burnside was engaged in luring Longstreet’s force of 20,000 men, which had been detached from the rebel army for operations in East Tennessee, to such a distance as would render it impossible for them to aid General Bragg when the final movement should be made on him. Another force cut the railroads leading to Knoxville; General Hooker, by a fine strategic movement, seized Lookout Mountain; and Thomas, moving out from Chattanooga, had obtained, with some hard fighting, possession of Orchard Knob, and another hill in front of the city, which commanded a part of Mission Ridge and the rebel forts situated thereon. On the 25th, Grant ordered Sherman to demonstrate strongly and persistently against Fort Buckner, at the northern extremity of Mission Ridge, with a view of drawing thither the greater part of the rebel troops in Forts Breckinridge and Bragg, which would thus fall an easier prey to a strong force sent to attack them in the rear. It is needless to write the record of that battle; sufficient to say, that the genius of Grant and his generals, and the wonderful heroism of their men, overcame all obstacles, carried the rebel positions, and drove Bragg’s routed army into the Valley of the Chickamauga, pursuing them beyond Red Clay Station, on the Dalton and Cleveland Railroad, which line of communication was also most effectually destroyed.

Then Sherman, as directed by General Grant, reinforced Burnside, and raised the siege of Knoxville (December 4), forcing Longstreet to retreat to Virginia, closely pursued by the Union cavalry. Four days later, Grant received from President Lincoln the following despatch:—

“Major-General Grant,—Understanding that your lodgment at Chattanooga and Knoxville is now secure, I wish to tender you, and all under your command, my more than thanks, my profoundest gratitude, for the skill, courage, and perseverance with which you and they, over so great difficulties, have effected that important object. God bless you all!

In addition to this, Congress, by joint resolution of December 17, 1863, tendered to General Grant the national thanks, and provided for the preparation and presentation to him of a gold medal, with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions. Resolutions of thanks were also passed by the legislatures of most of the loyal States; and the General became the recipient of numerous, costly, and appropriate gifts from various public bodies and private individuals. General Grant, meanwhile, devoted himself assiduously to the repair and strengthening of his army bases and lines of communication, the resting, equipment, and recruiting of his brave soldiers, and the preparation of the details connected with the coming campaign. He also set on foot an expedition, under command of General Sherman, which should leave Vicksburg, and at Meridian, Miss., should be joined by a large cavalry force under General W. S. Smith, the two then to traverse at will the central portions of Mississippi and Alabama. This expedition, carefully planned, and admirably carried out by Sherman, was shorn of its full measure of success by the failure of the cavalry force to coÖperate with him at Meridian, yet it greatly crippled the rebels, and seriously interfered with their movements.

Congress having now revived the grade of Lieutenant-General, which had been bestowed as an actual rank in time of war only on General Washington (although given to General Scott, by brevet), the honor was conferred by the President, with the approval of the Senate, upon General Grant, on the 9th of March, 1864 (the commission bearing date of March 2), and General Sherman succeeded to the command of the Military Division of the Mississippi, while McPherson took Sherman’s place with the army of the Tennessee, and General Halleck, hitherto General-in-chief, was made Chief of Staff at Washington.

The new Lieutenant-General, who had in January, 1864, visited and carefully inspected the Military Division of the Mississippi, now spent a few weeks in a similar examination of the other western departments, and in arranging with General Sherman the details of the coming spring and summer campaign. Having done this, and made such arrangements as should insure the simultaneous and coÖperative movements of the Union armies in the West and East, so as to prevent the reinforcement of one rebel army by the other, as had frequently been the case during the previous campaigns, he assumed the command in person of the Eastern armies designed to assail Richmond. The forces with which he proposed to reduce the Confederate capital consisted of the army of the Potomac, under General Meade, and numbering nearly 130,000 men, besides Sheridan’s splendid cavalry corps, and a reserve of nearly 40,000 men, of which one third were colored troops; the army of the James, under Major-General Butler, composed partly of the former army of Eastern Virginia and North Carolina, and partly of Gilmore’s fine corps of colored troops; and to these were soon after added the army of the Shenandoah, composed of the army of Western Virginia, and a large cavalry force, all under command of General Sigel. The great rebel army, under General R. E. Lee, lay south of the Rapidan, with its left near Gordonsville, and its right near Chancellorsville. Opposite to this, and north of the Rapidan, was the army of the Potomac, extending from Brandy Station to Robertson’s River, with its head-quarters at Culpepper Court-house. Confronting the rebel hosts, as it had done for months previous, it awaited the signal to strike the first blow in the final struggle. To the army of the James was assigned the duty of seizing, by a neat stratagem, the position of Bermuda Hundred, located on the right or south side of the James, midway between Richmond and Petersburg; and the interposition, if possible, of a sufficient force to cut the communications between those two cities, and insure the capture of the latter. The army of the Shenandoah was expected, by a movement on Staunton, Lynchburg, and Waynesboro’, to cripple Lee, by cutting off his supplies from the west, and also to protect Maryland and Pennsylvania from any rebel movement through the Shenandoah Valley.

When all was ready, the army of the Potomac made its first move on the morning of the 4th of May, 1864, crossed the Rapidan, with a view to flank Lee’s right, then intrenched at Mine Run. Lee, however, was on his guard, and the Union army, plunging almost immediately on crossing into a large tract of dense and tangled forest near Chancellorsville, called “The Wilderness,” found themselves attacked, before they could get into position, by a heavy rebel force under Longstreet. The battle was fierce, and lasted into the night, but without any decisive result. At four o’clock on the following morning, the rebels renewed the assault, with very heavy attacking columns, and the battle raged fiercely, until about dark, they succeeded in completely flanking the Union right. Grant, however, skillfully extended his left and centre, and brought his right into a new position, by which maneuver his base was changed to Fredericksburg and the Rappahannock. By this move he flanked Lee in turn, and secured for himself a more open country, in which to use his artillery. Lee fell back, and the Union advance overtook him May 7, strongly posted at Spottsylvania Court-house. Sharp fighting ensued on the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th, but with no decisive result. On the night of the 11th, Grant transferred Hancock’s corps to the left, and at half-past four o’clock of the following morning, it surprised the enemy’s right with a terrible bayonet charge, which was a complete victory, capturing 30 heavy guns, and over 4,000 prisoners, including two generals. Other Union successes in other parts of the field, also called out the most determined resistance from the rebels, who endeavored, in vain, to recapture the positions they had lost. Lee’s lines, on the 14th, were reformed, and moved further to the right, and from the 12th to the 18th of May both armies rested, and were each largely reinforced. On the 18th, General Hancock charged, and gained two intrenchments on the rebel right; and Grant, during the three following days, successfully accomplished another flanking movement to Milford Bridge, via Guiney’s Station. Lee, at the same time, took up a new and strong position between the North and South Anna. Some hard fighting which ensued, convinced General Grant that another flank movement was the best course to be adopted, and directing the army to recross the North Anna, under cover of an attack by his right wing, he burned the Virginia Central Railroad Bridge, rapidly crossed the Pamunkey, and on the 31st of May was within fifteen miles of Richmond. Here Lee was again ready to meet him, and much desultory fighting ensued, but no general engagement. On June 1, the 6th Corps approached Cold Harbor, and being joined by a force from the army of the James, fought a stubborn battle on the 3d, which gave them the full possession of that place. A subsequent attack the same day, upon the rebel works, convinced Grant that a direct attack would involve too great a loss of life, and between the 12th and 15th June, he boldly recrossed the James in the face of the enemy, although without his knowledge, and prepared to attack Richmond from that side. General Butler, meanwhile, had seized and occupied Bermuda Hundred; cut the railroad below Petersburg; made a bold, but unsuccessful dash upon the city; had besieged Fort Darling, but was unable to hold his position; had repulsed several rebel attacks upon his own lines, and was now awaiting support from the approaching army of the Potomac. Sigel had not been very fortunate in effecting his share of the programme,—having been roughly handled by the rebels in the Shenandoah Valley: he was relieved in command by General Hunter, who at first defeated the rebels handsomely near Staunton; but was, in turn, obliged to retreat by Early, and suffered terribly in a forced march into Western Virginia. During the time occupied in these changes, Sheridan had “raided” completely around Lee’s lines, penetrating within the first line of Lee’s communications, destroying railroads and depots of supplies, capturing rebels, and releasing many Union prisoners. The rebel General Early, having rid himself of Sigel and Hunter, passed down the Valley of the Shenandoah, crossed into Maryland, occupied Hagerstown and Frederick, plundered and foraged, fought the militia, whom he encountered, and threatened Baltimore and Washington, approaching to within two miles of the latter city. Finding, however, most unexpectedly, that veteran troops from New Orleans and the army of the Potomac had arrived, and were now garrisoned there, and that General Couch was approaching his rear from Pennsylvania, he decamped again into Virginia, well laden with plunder.

Grant, upon reaching the south side of the James, ordered an attack upon Petersburg, which failed of success in consequence of the want of proper coÖperation on the part of the cavalry. A series of attacks upon the rebel works ensued, and the city was fairly invested by the 22d of June, except on its northern and western side. On that day, also, the Union troops, by dint of hard fighting, secured possession of the South Side (Petersburg and Danville) Railroad, while Wilson’s and Kautz’s cavalry attacked and destroyed a considerable section of the Weldon Railroad, and a large amount of stores; but were surrounded by a large rebel force before they could regain the Union lines, and lost seven or eight hundred men. An interval of comparative quiet succeeded these movements, during which an extensive mine was run under one of the enemy’s forts, and in order to divert the attention of General Lee’s force, at the time for its explosion General Grant ordered a feint to be made north of the James, against their left. This attack, known as the action of Strawberry Plains, was entirely successful; the rebel left was turned, and four heavy guns were captured. On the 30th of July, the mine, containing eight tons of powder, was exploded, and under cover of a terrific cannonade along the whole length of the Union lines, an assault was made upon Petersburg. Fatal delays and misunderstandings, at the critical moment, gave the enemy time to recover somewhat from the surprise of the explosions, and their courageous defense foiled the Union attack, which resulted disastrously, especially to the colored troops engaged in it. On the 12th of August, the 2d Corps fought the battle of Deep Bottom, north of the James, with a loss to the rebels of their position, 500 prisoners, 6 cannon and 2 mortars. On the 18th, the Weldon Railroad, at Reams’ Station, was surprised, and occupied by the 5th Corps, which, in turn, was heavily attacked on the 19th by the rebel troops, and fell back; but being reinforced by the 9th Corps, succeeded in partly retrieving their position, but with a loss of nearly 4,000 men.

For five weeks following, although a little advance had gradually been gained by the Union forces, no battle of importance ensued. On the night of September 28, General Ord crossed to the north side of the James, and on the following morning carried the rebel intrenchments at Chaffin’s Farms, without serious loss, capturing 15 pieces of artillery and some 300 prisoners. Simultaneously, General Birney carried the intrenchments on the Newmarket road, and the Union forces, having occupied Fort Harrison, advanced to Laurel Hill. The Confederates next made a desperate attempt to retake Fort Harrison, on the 30th, but were repulsed. On the 1st of October, the Union cavalry reconnoitred to within two miles of the Confederate capital; and on the 7th, the army of the James repulsed a sharp attempt of the rebels to turn its right flank, with a severe loss to the assailants. On the 29th, a reconnoissance in force was made against the rebel position at Hatcher’s Run, which resulted in a severe battle, with great loss to the Union troops; who, however, held the position until withdrawn by General Grant. The inefficiency of commanders, which up to this time had existed in the Shenandoah Valley and Northern Virginia and Maryland, led in August, 1864, to the organization of a new and larger department, known as the Department of the Shenandoah, to the command of which, by General Grant’s desire, General Philip H. Sheridan was assigned. The new commander soon justified the confidence of his chief; on the 19th of September, he defeated and routed Early’s army at Opequan Creek, taking over 2000 prisoners, and a large number of guns; on the 22d, he routed them again at Fisher’s Hill, and pursued them to Staunton; and on the 9th of October, he repulsed General Rosser again at Fisher’s Hill, thrashing him soundly. On the 19th of the same month, while Sheridan was absent at Washington, his army was attacked by Early, defeated and driven back three miles, with the loss of twenty-four cannon; but Sheridan, returning to the front met his routed men, rallied them, and swept back with them over the field, whipping the rebels, sending them, “man and horse,” “whirling through the Valley,” and capturing fifty-two pieces of artillery, including all those which his men had lost in the morning.

Sherman, also, had been “cutting a wide swath” in the enemy’s country. A campaign of remarkable energy and hard fighting had given him the possession of Atlanta, Georgia, on the 2d of September; then leaving General Thomas to watch and manage the rebel Hood in Alabama, he had cut loose from his base at Atlanta and marched through the heart of rebeldom, 300 miles, to Savannah, which surrendered to him on the 22d of December. Hood, meanwhile, led on by Thomas’ maneuvers of retreat, and by his own rashness, fell into the trap prepared for him and which “sprung” upon him at Franklin, on the 30th of November, in a battle which cost him the loss of eighteen generals and nearly 7,000 troops. Still persisting in an attempt to invest Nashville, he was attacked by General Thomas, on the 15th of December, routed and driven in confusion to the Tennessee River and out of the State. During the same month, an expedition planned by General Grant, consisting of two divisions under General Butler, and a naval force under Rear Admiral Porter, set sail (December 15) against Fort Fisher, N. C. This was unsuccessful, and was speedily followed by a second expedition, in which the command of the land forces was given to General Terry. This proved a grand success, capturing Fort Fisher, (January 15,) and effectually closing Wilmington harbor, which had long been one of the chief channels of foreign supplies to the Confederacy.

On the 6th of February, a movement upon Hatcher’s Run, ordered by General Grant for the purpose of gaining position nearer to the Weldon Railroad, resulted in a desperate struggle, in which (on the second day) the Union lines were broken, but the next day the lost ground was regained and held, and finally the lines were permanently advanced four miles in advance of the original position. On the 25th of March, 1865, the rebels suddenly massed a heavy force upon Fort Steadman, near Petersburg, which they captured, but were almost immediately repulsed, and a portion of their own lines held by the 6th and 2d Corps. Four days later (29th) General Grant ordered an advance in order to occupy the Southside Railroad, which was now Lee’s only line of supplies. Sending Sheridan, who with his cavalry had just cut the rebel lines of communication north of Richmond, to threaten the railroad near Burkesville Junction, in order to attract Lee’s attention in that direction, he moved the 2d and 5th Corps across Hatcher’s Run (by the Vaughan and Halifax roads) to endeavor to seize the Boydton plank-road. On the first day, all went well; the cavalry reached Dinwiddie; the 5th Corps had a sharp but successful fight for the possession of the Quaker road, and the 2d Corps encountered but little opposition. By the 30th of March, the 5th and 2d Corps held the White Oak road and the Boydton plank-road; but the next day, the 5th, in attempting to reach Five Forks, on the White Oak road, found the enemy strongly intrenched, and was driven back upon the 2d Corps. Rallying, and with the help of a division of the 2d Corps, they regained their previous position by nightfall, though only by very hard fighting. Meanwhile Sheridan’s cavalry had been fiercely attacked by another rebel division, but the gallant general dismounted his men, placed them behind temporary breastworks, and repulsed the enemy until nightfall—both sides resting on their arms during the night, within a short distance of each other. Sheridan expected the reinforcement of Warren’s 5th Corps, which Grant had notified him would report to him that night, and he dispatched a note to Warren at 3 A. M., urging his speedy approach, on the enemy’s rear, while he would attack them in front. Warren, however, did not reply till morning, and did not succeed in reaching Dinwiddie; and Sheridan, promptly at the time appointed, attacked the foe with his own troops, driving them west of Chamberlain’s Creek. Meeting Warren, about seven or eight o’clock, four or five miles north of Dinwiddie, he directed him to press on the enemy when he should receive orders, and himself invested Five Forks, on two sides, with his cavalry. A little after noon he ordered Warren to attack on the east side, but Warren’s movements seemed to him so reluctant and indifferent that, although the attack proved a perfect success, Sheridan relieved the general from his command, which was given to General Griffin. On the following day the enemy were pushed still farther to the river road on the banks of the Appomattox.

A fierce bombardment continued along the Union lines surrounding Petersburg, and on the 2d of April, the 6th, 9th, and the Provisional Corps, after a short but terrible struggle, seized and tore up the long coveted Southside Railroad, capturing many prisoners and guns. Richmond and Petersburg, being thus rendered untenable, were evacuated during the same night, and occupied by Union troops on the morning of April 3, 1865. Pausing not for a moment, however, General Grant pressed on in the hopes of capturing the defeated rebel general and his army. At Deep Creek, Paine’s Cross-roads, Deatonsville, Farmville, High Bridge over the Appomattox, and Appomattox Station, actions of greater or less severity were fought with the rebel army, which now, thoroughly demoralized, was strewing the road with deserted artillery, wagons, and supplies, which were passed unnoticed and untouched by the Union troops in the heat of their unremitting and exultant pursuit. At length, on the 7th, General Grant at Farmville, sent a note to Lee, requesting the surrender of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Pressing on, still in relentless pursuit, he was met at Appomattox Station, on the morning of the 9th, by a note from General Lee asking for an interview with a view to the surrender of his command. The same afternoon, at Appomattox Court-house, he received the surrender of the rebel chieftain, on terms which were liberal in the extreme. The war was now virtually ended, and Grant, passing through Richmond, went to Washington, and on the 14th took the cars for a visit to his family, then in New Jersey, but was overtaken en route by the terrible news of the assassination of President Lincoln, and the tragic events caused by a plot, of which it seems that he had been one of the marked victims.

Meanwhile, Sherman sweeping through the Carolinas, had flanked and captured Charleston, S. C., as well as Columbia, Cheraw, Fayetteville, and with the aid of Generals Terry and Schofield, had taken Goldsboro’, Smithfield, and Raleigh, and held Johnston’s rebel army “pinned to the wall.”

Stoneman’s cavalry from Thomas’ army, had also thoroughly broken the Virginia and East Tennessee Railroad and the North Carolina road above Salisbury, had released the Union prisoners confined there, captured a large amount of stores, and effectually cut off Johnston’s retreat. From south, west, and southwest came cheering news of victories won, all tending to the completion of the great plan by which the power of treason was to be destroyed.

At this juncture, the Cabinet at Washington received from General Sherman a memorandum of a treaty between himself and General Johnston, for the surrender of all the rebel armies in the field and the complete cessation of hostilities. In the then excited state of public feeling, the terms accorded by General Sherman to the rebel leaders, were deemed too liberal; and at the request of the Government, General Grant proceeded incognito to Raleigh, conferred with Sherman, and ordered the immediate resumption of hostilities. This brought Johnston to terms, and, by General Grant’s orders, General Sherman received his surrender, on the 26th of April, on the same terms as those accorded to General Lee. The surrender of Dick Taylor to General Canby on the 4th of May, 1865, and shortly after, of Kirby Smith’s army west of the Mississippi, completed the record of the War of the Rebellion.

General Grant returned to Washington, where on the 28th, he issued an order reducing the expenses of the Military Department, and attended the grand review of his victorious legions at Washington, preparatory to their disbanding and return to their homes. Visiting his family at Burlington, N. J., on the 2d of May, he was, on the 3d, welcomed by the citizens of Philadelphia, who presented him with a costly and elegantly furnished house in that city. A portion of the summer of 1865 was spent by him in flying trips to the East and West and Canadas; and his passage through the country was a series of brilliant receptions, orations, and public and private demonstrations of respect, which proved the people not unmindful of the distinguished services he had rendered to the Republic. At Galena, the place of his residence when he entered the service, the citizens met him with festive demonstrations of affection and respect, and presented him with an elegant and well-furnished house (costing $16,000), on a most beautiful elevation near the city, which he and his family entered amidst the cheers of the excited crowd, and the ringing of all the church-bells in the place. On the 10th of November, he was complimented by the City of New York, with a magnificent banquet and reception at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, rarely equalled even in that demonstrative metropolis, and presented by the merchants and capitalists of the city with one hundred thousand dollars, as a token of their gratitude for his patriotic and successful labors in restoring union and peace to the country.

The Thirty-Ninth Congress at its first session, resolved to create the rank of General of the army, which had hitherto been considered the special perquisite and prerogative of the President, and Lieutenant General Grant was promoted to this honor, which it was resolved by Congress, when again vacant, should not be filled. His commission as General bears date July 25, 1866, and on the same day, Major-General Sherman was promoted to the vacant Lieutenant Generalship.

General Grant, by special order of President Johnson, accompanied him in his tour in the summer of 1866, to Chicago and St. Louis; but during the whole journey he neither by word or look manifested, as he doubtless did not feel, any sympathy with Mr. Johnson’s “policy” of reconstruction. In the correspondence relative to the New Orleans massacre, he manifested his abhorrence of the act, though he knew that it had received the quasi-sanction of the President. With his habitual reticence, he refrained from any interference with, or expression of opinion upon, political questions; and though urged as a candidate for the Presidency at first by conservative Republicans and some Democrats, he manifested no interest in the movement, and the most skillful pumping failed to elicit from him any expression of opinion which the politicians could make available. His duties as General of the army were performed quietly, promptly, and satisfactorily, and the hospitalities of his house in Washington were freely tendered to men of all parties and of none.

The time came, however, when this reticence could no longer be maintained. The President, who had long been cherishing hostility toward the Secretary of War, Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, early in August, 1867, requested him to resign; Mr. Stanton refused to do so, on the plea that he was compelled to retain office from his view of what were the exigencies of the public service, and President Johnson immediately suspended him from office, and appointed General Grant Secretary, ad interim, on the 12th of August, 1867.

Mr. Stanton surrendered the office to General Grant under protest, though it was well understood, without any hostile feeling toward him personally. General Grant managed the affairs of the Department wisely and well, reducing expenses, and infusing a somewhat greater zeal and activity into the public service. On the reassembling of Congress in November, 1867, a demand was made by the Senate upon the President for an account of the circumstances attending the suspension of Secretary Stanton, and having received them, after a very full discussion, they decided them insufficient, and that Secretary Stanton must be reinstated. On the passage of this resolution by the Senate, General Grant promptly relinquished his position to Mr. Stanton, having notified the President that he should do so. The President, greatly enraged at having his purpose foiled, of putting a man into the place who would sympathize with him, commenced an angry correspondence with the General, and attempted to fasten upon him the charges of treachery and want of veracity, claiming that he had promised to give him due notice of his intention to surrender the office, that he might put some one else in his place, or to hold the position himself when Stanton should demand it. General Grant replied with a frank and soldier-like statement of the facts, to which the President rejoined somewhat abusively, and adduced letters from members of his Cabinet for the purpose of sustaining his statements. Some of these letters failed most signally to accomplish the object for which they were intended, while others were evidently a mere compliance with the President’s request that they should sustain his statements. General Grant replied again, more briefly than before, but clearing himself handsomely from the charge of insubordination, which the President had sought to fix upon him. There was probably some misunderstanding of General Grant’s language on the part of the President in the first place, as the General, before examining the subject, had expressed the opinion to the President that Secretary Stanton would have to apply to the courts to be reinstated, but had subsequently, on careful examination, changed his opinion, and so informed the President. As the result of his refusing to surrender the office would have been a fine of ten thousand dollars and five years’ imprisonment, there is no probability that he made the promise to retain the position, notwithstanding the President’s very liberal but totally impracticable offer, to take the punishment upon himself. With the views he entertained, when he discovered the President’s purpose of putting a man into the office who would carry out his views of reconstruction, it is equally incredible that he should have promised to give the President the opportunity of accomplishing his purpose and thwarting the congressional plan of reconstruction, the success of which he had much at heart. Aside from this, the issue in a question of veracity between Ulysses S. Grant and Andrew Johnson could not fail to be decided in favor of the former, whose sturdy truthfulness has been as conspicuous as Johnson’s shuffling self-contradiction, and general unveracity.

General Grant is now by common consent the candidate of the Republican party for the Presidency, and seems to have the prospect of an election almost by acclamation.

In person he is short, about five feet eight (the height if we recollect aright of the “Little Corporal,” and like him somewhat inclined to stoutness). He has a clear, well-balanced brain, with no faculty in excess and none deficient. He is not a genius, but a man of fair talents, with a thorough insight into character, and a remarkable faculty of always putting “the right man in the right place.” Despite the reports of his being addicted to intoxication, we have the highest authority for saying, that he is not only not a drunkard, but a man of remarkable temperance, abstaining from the use even of wine, when most men would consider themselves bound in courtesy to drink it. He does smoke excessively, being seldom seen without a cigar in his mouth, but his smoking is quiet and not spiteful, like that of General Sherman. He is a skillful billiard-player, and retains his old fondness for horses. He is one of the best equestrians in the country, and, like Phil. Sheridan, appears to extraordinary advantage in the saddle.

For the rest, he is not ambitious; is reticent in the extreme on all political questions, but evidently not from ignorance of them. He possesses great vitality, and a pertinacity and perseverance in completing what he undertakes, which on the right side (and he will be generally found there) is invaluable. His seven years of command have been a valuable discipline to him, and his views have been widened and deepened thereby. He is thoroughly honest, and will be as careful of the people’s money as of his own; yet his views of economy are not of the scrimping, miserly sort. He only desires that money shall be rightly, judiciously, and prudently expended, and not squandered for the benefit of office-holders. While we do not regard him as the greatest of men, we believe if his life is spared he will make one of the best of Presidents.

In formally accepting the nomination of the National Union Republican Convention of the 21st of May inst. it seems proper that some statement of views beyond the mere acceptance of the nomination should be expressed. The proceedings of the Convention were marked with wisdom, moderation, and patriotism, and I believe express the feelings of the great mass of those who sustained the country through its recent trials. I endorse the resolutions. If elected to the office of President of the United States, it will be my endeavor to administer all the laws in good faith, with economy, and with the view of giving peace, quiet, and protection everywhere. In times like the present it is impossible, or at least eminently improper, to lay down a policy to be adhered to, right or wrong, through an administration of four years. New political issues, not foreseen, are constantly arising; the views of the public on old ones are constantly changing, and a purely administrative officer should always be left free to execute the will of the people. I always have respected that will, and always shall. Peace and universal prosperity—its sequence—with economy of administration will lighten the burden of taxation, while it constantly reduces the National debt. Let us have peace. With great respect, your obedient servant,

The universal popularity of Mr. Colfax, and the thorough confidence felt by all classes in his integrity, intellectual ability and capacity to fill the highest position in the gift of the nation, should he be called to it, are among the most remarkable circumstances of his life-history. He is not a military hero. His fame, wide-spread as it is, was not won on the tented field, nor in the fierce strife and din of battle. His triumphs have been of a more peaceful character.

Though of a good and honorable lineage, he owes nothing to the accident of birth or hereditary fortune, and though a man of cultivated intellect and extensive general knowledge, he has not the eclat of honors won in college or university to make him conspicuous.

Still less is his fame dependent on exalted political station, long and ably held. He has been indeed a representative of the people in Congress, and for five years past Speaker of the House of Representatives, and his abilities have been fairly and fully proved in both capacities, but other men have presided over the House of Representatives, and been for years members of that body, or of the Senate, and yet no one has thought of them for the Vice-Presidency, or the Presidency.

Whence then comes this universal esteem in which this man is held; this almost brotherly attachment which leads all who know him personally, and tens of thousands who do not, to speak of him, not as Mr. Colfax, but as Schuyler Colfax, just as men used to say Abraham, or “Abe” Lincoln, and not coldly, Mr. Lincoln?

We propose to answer this question by a brief sketch of his life, which will we think, give us the best key to this personal magnetism which draws all men to him.

In 1822, there lived in North Moore Street, then a quiet, home-like street running westward from West Broadway, New York, a young couple by the name of Colfax. The husband, named like his illustrious son, Schuyler Colfax, was a bank clerk. The child-wife, for she was then but little more than fifteen years of age, looked up confidingly and tenderly to the brave, noble-hearted young man on whom she had bestowed her heart’s affections, and both anticipated a long and joyous future. But ere the new year of 1823 dawned, that young husband was taken from life, and the girl-wife was a widow.

In the early spring, (on the 23d of March, 1823), a son, destined to cheer and comfort her in her subsequent earthly pilgrimage was given her, and though poor and widowed, the young mother felt that she was not alone. The boy grew up, a slender, delicate, bright, loving boy, flaxen-haired, and seemingly too frail to struggle with the rough world with which he was brought in contact; but though poverty pressed hard upon mother and child, they were all in all to each other. The boy attended the school of the Public School Society, for in those days, Ward Schools were undreamed of, till he had reached his tenth year, and made good proficiency, being always, as one of his schoolmates testifies, at the head of his class. When he was ten years old his mother married again, and this time a merchant by the name of Matthews, who was very fond of Schuyler, and in whose store he became thus early, a younger clerk. In 1836, the fever for emigration, then so prevalent, seized the Matthews family, and they removed to what is now the garden of the west, the valley of the St. Joseph’s river, in Indiana. It was then, much of it, an unbroken wilderness, though South Bend and two or three other villages were beginning to attract emigrants. In one of these villages, New Carlisle, the family made their new home, and Mr. Matthews engaged in trade. Schuyler Colfax was for four years more his clerk. In 1840, Mr. Matthews was chosen Auditor of St. Joseph’s County, and for convenience in his official duties, removed to South Bend, the county seat, which has ever since been the home of the family. Mr. Matthews made his step-son deputy auditor, and the boy, who had diligently improved every leisure moment in study, now a tall, flaxen-haired youth, soon became so thoroughly familiar with the law in all questions relating to the auditor’s duties, that he was ere long the standard authority for the region about, on these subjects. But his reading of law at this time was not confined to that required for exercising an auditor’s duties; he found time to make himself master of its great principles, rather however for the sake of the general culture it would afford him, than with the view of adopting it as a profession. During this period too he was practicing himself in that facility for putting his thoughts on paper which was afterwards of so much advantage to him. A gentleman, well known in the philanthropic circles of New York and Brooklyn, who had been a schoolmate of Mr. Colfax in that Crosby Street School, which was the last one he attended in New York city, kept up a correspondence with him during these years of his service as deputy auditor, and says:

“Schuyler’s letters in those days were very interesting; they were filled with details concerning his studies, knotty questions which he wanted me to aid him in clearing up, and brilliant thoughts, often expressed with the same felicity which now marks his writings.”

To such a youth, writing for the newspapers was almost a necessity. There had been a paper in South Bend edited for some years by John D. Defrees, since then a Member of Congress and Government printer. To its columns Schuyler contributed often, and he was but little more than twenty-one years of age, when he became editor and proprietor of the St. Joseph’s Valley Register, his friend Defrees having removed to Indianapolis to take charge of the State Journal. Previous to this, however, he and Mr. Defrees, with some other enterprising young men of South Bend, had organized a debating society, and by a happy thought had modeled it after the House of Representatives, whose rules they adopted for their governance. Mr. Defrees was for the time the “Speaker” of this Village House of Representatives, and Colfax, yet a youth under age, was “the gentleman from Newton.” Parliamentary rules were insisted upon, and the pages of Jefferson’s and Cushing’s Manuals were carefully and thoroughly conned, till “the gentleman from Newton” became as conversant with the rules and usage of “the House,” as any presiding officer in our State legislatures. This, and the habit of off hand debate, were of great advantage to him in after years, and contributed much to make him, as he is acknowledged to be, by all parties, the best presiding officer the House of Representatives has had for many years.

He entered upon the work of editing and managing the St. Joseph’s Valley Register with but two hundred and fifty subscribers. It was a small sheet, and for some years, it required all his exertions, often protracted far into the night, to make it pay. He had not been bred a printer, but in these years he learned enough of the art to be able to render material service in setting up the paper. His friend Defrees, who knew his abilities, secured his services for two successive sessions of the legislature as Senate Reporter for the State Journal, and this helped him to relieve himself of the burden of debt, which for a time threatened to crush him.

From the first, he made the Register a good paper. He was a Whig and his sympathies were with his party, and he ably defended its principles; but though often attacked personally and with scurrilous abuse by the Democratic papers of that section, he never allowed a discourteous or abusive word in his paper. He was too thoroughly a gentleman in word and thought and nature to stoop to scurrility, and his opponents soon found that they injured themselves in their efforts to injure him.

In South Bend every body liked him and believed in him; the magnetism of his genial face, his kindly nature, and his cordial hand-grasp won all hearts. He was, the villagers said, a remarkable man, especially for a newspaper editor; he paid his debts; he drank no whiskey; he was prudent and economical; he never uttered an oath; and though it was only by careful management that he avoided debt, he always seemed to have something to give to the poor.

He was, during this period, steadily gaining reputation as a political writer and speaker. In 1848, he was chosen as a delegate to the convention which nominated General Taylor for the Presidency, and on taking his seat in the convention, was elected its principal secretary. In 1850, he represented St. Joseph’s County in the convention which formed the present constitution of Indiana. In that convention he opposed with all his ability, the adoption of the clause preventing free colored men from settling in the State. The next year he was nominated by his district for Congress, and had for a competitor Dr. Graham N. Fitch, an old, wily, and experienced Democratic politician, subsequently the colleague of Jesse D. Bright, as Senator, and in a district which for years had been Democratic by some thousands majority. Dr. Fitch used his opposition to the black laws, mercilessly, against him, but defeated him by only two hundred and thirty-eight votes.

In 1852, Mr. Colfax was again a delegate to and secretary of the National Convention which nominated General Scott for the Presidency. In the spring of 1858, he was urged to accept another nomination for Congress, but declined, and Dr. Fitch was re-elected by a majority of more than a thousand votes.

It was the era of the Kansas-Nebraska swindle, and though the district which he represented was strongly opposed to this measure, and his constituents used all their influence to dissuade him from supporting it, yet Dr. Fitch was so mole-eyed, and so wedded to slavery, that he advocated and voted for it steadily.

This was too much for the good people of St. Joseph county; a majority of them had voted the Democratic ticket regularly, but they were determined to do so no longer. The young editor of the St. Joseph’s Valley Register was urged to accept the nomination for Congress, and was elected in 1854, a representative in the XXXIVth Congress, by seventeen hundred and sixty-six majority. This result was due in part to the great reaction, but it was aided by the efforts of Mr. Colfax, who took the stump, and discussed with his competitor, through the district, the political questions of the canvass with such ability and spirit as to carry all hearts with him.

He entered Congress at the time of the protracted struggle in regard to the election of a Speaker, which terminated in the choice of Nathaniel P. Banks, and he gallantly plunged into the contest. His maiden speech took the whole House by surprise. It not only demonstrated that he was even then one of the ablest debaters in the House, but its eloquence, its logical power, and its graphic portrayal of the real condition of Kansas, and of the iniquity of the Border-Ruffian movement, made it the most effective campaign document of the season, and of the Presidential conflict of that year. Over five hundred thousand copies of that speech were printed and circulated by the National Committee—a compliment we believe never before paid to any member of Congress, certainly not to the maiden speech of one of the youngest members of the House.

Into the Presidential contest of 1856, the first of the Republican party, Mr. Colfax entered with all his zeal and enthusiasm. The banner of Fremont and Dayton was borne aloft in his paper, and his eloquent appeals in its behalf rang through all the States of the West. Victory was perhaps hardly to be expected for a new party at its first trial, but never was a fight more gallantly conducted.

The people of northern Indiana knew and honored the talents and worth of their Representative. By that personal magnetism which he possesses, in larger measure than most men, he had drawn all hearts to him, and they have kept him in Congress from 1855 to the present time, and always by large majorities. In 1860 he received thirty-four hundred more votes than his competitor, and in 1866 nearly twenty-two hundred more.

His great power as a debater, his strong, clear common sense, quick intuition, and devotion to the best interests of his country, made him a very valuable member of the House of Representatives, and he was early placed on important committees. As chairman of the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, he was very efficient in promoting mail facilities with our new territories and the Pacific states, and on other important committees he accomplished a vast amount of labor. He was deeply interested, and is still, in the prosperity of the Pacific Railroad, regarding it as a most important measure not only for the prosperity of the nation, but as a means of bringing together the distant sections of our Great Republic.

Into the Presidential Campaign of 1860, Mr. Colfax plunged with all his energy. Mr. Lincoln had been from the first his favorite as a candidate, and he had foreshadowed his nomination, months before it was made, in his paper. There were many points of resemblance in the character of the two men, and Colfax’s heart warmed toward him as toward a brother. Hardly any man in the United States did so much to secure the election of Mr. Lincoln as this western editor, and this from pure love, and not from any hope or desire of reward. Mr. Colfax could have had, if he had sought it, a place in Mr. Lincoln’s cabinet, as he always had, (a very warm one,) in his heart; but he preferred to remain in Congress, and during the whole period of the war, he was a bosom friend and a trusted adviser of the President. In his sound sense, his practical view of matters, and his freedom from hobbies, Mr. Lincoln could confide, with the assurance that his counsels would never lead him astray.

Hopeful, even in the darkest hours, and ready to cheer and encourage the drooping spirits of those whose duller vision could not pierce the cloud-wrack, and see the clear heavens beyond, his presence and influence were invaluable in the murky and treason-tainted atmosphere of the Capitol.

On the assembling of the XXXVIIIth Congress in its first session, he was chosen Speaker of the House and has been re-elected to the same position twice since, an honor to which no other Representative except Henry Clay has ever attained. At the close of his present term as Speaker, he will probably take his seat as presiding officer at the other end of the Capitol.

It is the testimony of members of all parties, that he is the best presiding officer the House has had since Henry Clay, and in some particulars he excels Mr. Clay. He is always genial and courteous, never betrayed into impatience or vexation, and his marvelous quickness of thought, thorough knowledge of parliamentary usage, and talent for the rapid administration of details, and above all his extraordinary tact, enable him to control the House of Representatives, even in its most boisterous moods, with the skill and grace with which an accomplished pilot would manage the helm of one of our palace steamers on the Hudson. He is never at a loss in deciding a question of order, however delicate or difficult, and the whole array of precedents are at his command. Very seldom indeed are his decisions overruled, and in the rare cases in which they have been, the House have generally found that they and not he, were in the wrong.

It has been said that his talents were administrative and executive rather than deliberative. While this is in itself high praise, we are inclined to doubt its entire truth. He does possess great executive ability, and inherits from his mother that faculty of rapid intuition, which has very properly been denominated “mother wit;” but he has also given indications of the possession of high reasoning and deliberative faculties, and both his editorials and speeches give evidence of fine logical as well as rhetorical power.

He possesses, in a remarkable degree, the power of reading character, and when called upon to select men for special duties he will not make mistakes. While a Radical in his political views he is still cautious, and will adopt sure and safe policies. His mind is well balanced, no undue predominance of any faculty being observable, but all uniting in such proportions as to make a sound, healthy-minded, judicious man; one who will not be a seer far in advance of his age, nor a conservative lagging in the rear of it, but an able leader, to whose position the whole host of patriots will rally, and whose views will meet with a hearty response from all lovers of their country.

He is a courteous man, not proudly or haughtily so, but genial and gentle from the necessities of his nature. The gentleman in his case, as in all others, is not, of necessity, he who is gentle-born, but he who possesses a truly gentle nature. Mr. Colfax never forgets, he remembers rather with peculiar tenacity, the humble circumstances of his early years, and honors with peculiar love those sons of toil, who like himself have by diligent struggle and earnest endeavor wrought their way up to a higher and more extended sphere of action.

A very pleasant illustration of this is contained in a speech which he delivered at a dinner given him by the representatives of the press in December 1866 at which the presiding officer, Samuel Wilkeson, Esq., had alluded to his passing his office at midnight, eighteen years before, while waiting for the change of horses in the stage, and having seen him busily at work. Mr. Colfax replied as follows:—

“I have had to listen to-night to a eulogy from your distinguished chairman, of which I can only wish I was worthy. What he has said has called back to my mind, what is often before it, the years of my early manhood—and I see a friend seated at this table (Mr. Defrees) who knows much of it about as well as myself—when, struggling against poverty and adverse fortune sometimes, I sought in the profession to which you have devoted yourselves, to earn an honest livelihood for myself and family, and a position, humble, but not dishonored, among the newspaper men of America. I cannot remember the exact evening to which he alludes, when, eighteen years ago, a stranger then, as I am glad he is not now, he saw me through a window in my office, with the midnight lamp before me, and heard the commentary on my life from the lips of some too partial friend from among those who from my boyhood have surrounded me with so much kindness and attention. But well do I remember, in the early history of the newspaper that numbered but two hundred and fifty subscribers when I established it, I was often compelled to labor far into the hours of night. And little did I dream, at that time, I was ever to be a member of the American Congress; and far less that I was to be the recipient of the honor whose conferment you commemorate and endorse to-night. I can say of that paper that its columns, from its very first number, will bear testimony to-day that in all the political canvasses in which I was engaged, I never avoided a frank and outspoken expression of opinion on any question before the American people. And that, as these opinions had always been honestly entertained, I could not have hesitated to frankly and manfully avow them. Though the effect of these avowals was, from the political complexion of the district and the State, to keep me in a minority, the people among whom I live will bear testimony that I was no less faithful to them then than I have been when, in later years, that minority has by the course of events been changed into a majority.”

In the course of this speech he uttered the following noble thoughts in regard to the vocation of the Editor, a vocation which he continued to honor by his own participation in it, until his assumption of the speaker’s chair. Were these views more prevalent, journalism would be a far greater blessing to the nation and the world than it now is.

“Next to the sacred desk, and those who minister in it, there is no profession more responsible than yours. The editor cannot wait, like the politician, to see the set of the tide, but is required, as new necessities arise, not only to avow at once his sentiments upon them, but to discuss them intelligently and instructively. It is also his duty to guide and protect public opinion in the proper channels, and to lay before the readers of his sheet such matter as shall tend to the elevation of their character. I have sometimes thought that newspapers in their sphere might be compared to that exquisite mechanism of the universe whereby the moisture is lifted from the earth, condensed into clouds, and poured back again in refreshing and fertilizing showers to bless the husbandman and produce the abundant harvests. So, with the representatives of the press, they draw from public opinion, condense public opinion, and finally reflect and re-distribute it back again in turn to its elevation and purification.”

No man ever yet had occasion to complain of want of courtesy, or brusqueness in Mr. Colfax’s treatment of him. His kindness of manner comes evidently from the heart, and men leave his presence with the impression that he is at once an able, honest and kind man. Political opponents like him personally, as well as his political friends, and even the bitterest of copperheads will tell you that “after all, Schuyler Colfax is a good fellow.” Personal enemies he has none, and the only condemnation to which he is liable, is that of the woe pronounced on those of whom all men speak well.

The breath of slander has never sullied his fair fame. The wife of his youth, after being for a long time an invalid, sank to her final rest several years ago, leaving him childless. At his receptions, which though perhaps not the most brilliant, are certainly the most popular in Washington, his mother, a still comely matron of but little more than sixty years, and his sister, Miss Matthews, preside. Nothing can exceed in chivalrous gallantry his attentions to his mother, who has been his cherished companion from his childhood. When she enters the gallery of the House, Mr. Colfax at once calls some member of the House to the speaker’s chair, and hastens to her, remaining, if possible, with her during the whole time she continues at the Hall of Representatives.

Eminently social and genial in his manners, Mr. Colfax has never fallen into the vices which have so sadly marred the character of some of the noblest of our public men. Early in life he signed the pledge of total abstinence from all that could intoxicate, and that pledge he has never broken. At the National Republican Convention at Chicago in May 1868, at which he was nominated for the Vice-Presidency, the canvass for him was conducted by his special command without a drop of any intoxicating liquor. At the head-quarters of some of the other candidates, strong drink flowed freely, but he preferred to lose the nomination if necessary, rather than to violate his temperance principles.

Mr. Colfax is a religious man, an exemplary member of the Reformed (Dutch) Church, and in all the relations of life, public and private, he has maintained an active and reputable Christian profession. The Sunday-school, the Tract, the Mission and the Bible cause have all found in him an earnest and cordial supporter. During the war, both the Sanitary and the Christian Commissions were indebted to him for abundant labors and the exertion of his powerful influence.

In the summer of 1866, in company with several friends, Mr. Colfax crossed the continent by the overland route, and received a hearty and cordial welcome in the Pacific States and Territories, and increased his already deep interest in the means of speedy and rapid communication with those portions of the Republic. One of the results of this journey was a lecture entitled “Across the Continent,” which he has delivered to many thousands of our people all over the Northern States, and almost always for the benefit of some benevolent enterprise. He has also published another lecture, on “The Education of the Heart,” which has been widely circulated.

To sum up our estimate of his character, we have only to say further, that the nation believes in him, trusts him, and is willing to confide its interests to him, confident that if either in the speedy or remote future he should be called to the Presidency, he will not disappoint the hopes of those who should elect him, or prove treacherous to the convictions he had previously avowed. He can not and will not under any temptation be other than a true, honest, upright, God-fearing, manly man. Have we not, then, answered the inquiry we made at the beginning, why Schuyler Colfax is so popular?

Dear Sir: The platform adopted by the patriotic Convention over which you presided, and the resolutions which so happily supplement it, so entirely agree with my views as to a just national policy that my thanks are due to the Delegates as much for this clear and auspicious declaration of principles as for the nomination with which I have been honored, and which I gratefully accept. When a great Rebellion, which imperiled the national existence was at last overthrown, the duty of all others, devolving on those intrusted with the responsibilities of legislation, evidently was to require that the revolted States should be readmitted to participation in the Government against which they had erred only on such a basis as to increase and fortify, not to weaken or endanger, the strength and power of the nation. Certainly no one ought to have claimed that they should be readmitted under such rule that their organization as States could ever again be used, as at the opening of the war, to defy the national authority or to destroy the national unity. This principle has been the pole-star of those who have inflexibly insisted on the Congressional policy your Convention so cordially endorsed. Baffled by Executive opposition, and by persistent refusals to accept any plan of reconstruction proffered by Congress, justice and public safety at last combined to teach us that only by an enlargement of suffrage in those States could the desired end be attained, and that it was even more safe to give the ballot to those who loved the Union than to those who sought ineffectually to destroy it. The assured success of this legislation is being written on the adamant of history, and will be our triumphant vindication. More clearly, too, than ever before, does the nation now recognize that the greatest glory of a republic is that it throws the shield of its protection over the humblest and weakest of its people, and vindicates the rights of the poor and the powerless as faithfully as those of the rich and the powerful. I rejoice, too, in this connection, to find in your platform the frank and fearless avowal that naturalized citizens must be protected abroad at every hazard, as though they were native-born. Our whole people are foreigners, or descendants of foreigners; our fathers established by arms their right to be called a nation. It remains for us to establish the right to welcome to our shores all who are willing, by oaths of allegiance, to become American citizens. Perpetual allegiance, as claimed abroad, is only another name for perpetual bondage, and would make all slaves to the soil where first they saw the light. Our National cemeteries prove how faithfully these oaths of fidelity to their adopted land have been sealed in the life blood of thousands upon thousands. Should we not, then, be faithless to the dead if we did not protect their living brethren in the full enjoyment of that nationality for which, side by side, with the native-born, our soldiers of foreign birth laid down their lives. It was fitting, too, that the representatives of a party which had proved so true to national duty in time of war, should speak so clearly in time of peace for the maintenance, untarnished, of the national honor, national credit and good faith as regards its debt, the cost of our national existence. I do not need to extend this reply by further comment on a platform which has elicited such hearty approval throughout the land. The debt of gratitude it acknowledges to the brave men who saved the Union from destruction, the frank approval of amnesty based on repentance and loyalty, the demand for the most thorough economy and honesty in the Government, the sympathy of the party of liberty with all throughout the world who longed for the liberty we here enjoy, and the recognition of the sublime principles of the Declaration of Independence, are worthy of the organization on whose banners they are to be written in the coming contest. Its past record cannot be blotted out or forgotten. If there had been no Republican party, Slavery would to-day cast its baleful shadow over the republic. If there had been no Republican party free press and free speech would be as unknown from the Potomac to the Rio Grande as ten years ago. If the Republican party could have been stricken from existence when the banner of Rebellion was unfurled, and when the response of “No Coercion” was heard at the North, we would have had no nation to-day. But for the Republican party daring to risk the odium of tax, and draft laws, our flag could not have been kept flying in the field until the long-hoped for victory came. Without a Republican party the Civil Rights bill—the guarantee of equality under the law to the humble and the defenseless as well as the strong—would not be to-day upon our National Statute book. With such inspiration from the past, and following the example of the founders of the Republic, who called the victorious General of the Revolution to preside over the land his triumphs had saved from its enemies, I cannot doubt that our labors will be crowned with success; and it will be a success that shall bring restored hope, confidence, prosperity, and progress South as well as North, West as well as East, and above all, the blessings under Providence of National concord and peace.