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President Ulysses S. Grant
MEMORIAL SERVICES HELD AT WINFIELD, KANSAS.
When Grant died, the entire nation mourned. The following covers the memorial services held at Winfield, Kansas, relative to President Ulysses S. Grant.
I was quite taken with the eloquence of the speakers for this occasion; in particular with Rev. Dr. Kirkwood, who soon departed from Winfield after this sad memorial to our fallen president. The words spoken on this occasion are worth preserving.
To my surprise, the Winfield Courier gave details of the actual memorial services in New York City on one of the back pages. It was very hard to read, but for the sake of posterity, I have added this article after the Winfield coverage.
I also found some items relative to Grant Monument. MAW
PART II.—COVERAGE OF U. S. GRANT.
GREAT MEMORIAL!
Our Citizens, With the G. A. R., W. R. C., and K. N. G.,
Give Honor to the Nation’s Greatest Character.
Winfield Courier, Thursday, August 13, 1885.
The Grant Memorial Services Saturday were grand. The G. A. R. and the militia were out in full force. The Courier, the Juvenile, and the Union Cornet Bands discoursed sweet music; the city was draped in mourning and business suspended from 2 to 4 o’clock in honor of the dead hero. The south and the north joined hands and hearts in mourning for the silent man of Vicksburg. The procession started from the G. A. R. hall at 2 p.m., followed by the Militia, marching to the Baptist church where the services were held. The church was beautifully draped. Over the pulpit was a banner with the inscription, “Our Old Commander,” over a picture of Gen. Grant. The pulpit was draped in black, decorated with beautiful flowers arranged in crosses. The outside of the church was also appropriately in mourning. The G. A. R. occupied the front seats, with the militia and Woman’s Relief Corps. We cannot speak too highly of the music. The Courier Band rendered sweet music at the church. Also the choir of the church, composed of Miss Lola Silliman, organist; H. E. Silliman, Miss Walrath, Mrs. C. A. Bliss, and Prof. Merriman. As the Corps marched in, Crippen’s instrumental Quintette played Lincoln’s Funeral March—as charming as ever greeted the ear. Captain Siverd and Sam Gilbert showed their usual gallantry in conducting all to seats. After music and prayer by Rev. Myers, the Committee on resolutions, D. A. Millington, Geo. Rembaugh, and Buel Davis, read fitting resolutions lamenting the death of the old hero and eulogizing the acts of his life. After this Rev. J. H. Snyder, of the United Brethren church, and Dr. W. R. Kirkwood, of the Presbyterian church, delivered very fine discourses. Rev. B. Kelly, who conducted the services, made a few remarks about the General’s religious character. Mrs. Grant is a Methodist and the General always leaned that way. A few months before Grant’s death, the old friendly pastor called and the General made a confession of faith. Following are the addresses.
REV. SNYDER’S ADDRESS.
MY FELLOW CITIZENS: When, on the morning of the 23rd of July, the telegraph wires flashed to all parts of our country and to the nations across the deep waters, the sad intelligence that General Ulysses S. Grant, the distinguished soldier and statesman of the American Republic, was dead, no sadder tidings could have been heralded to a distressed people. At once the nation draped itself in the sombre habiliments of mourning. Public offices, marts of trade, and manufactories closed and curtained their doors. Flags on capitol and fortress were hung at half mast. From lakes to gulf and from ocean to ocean, a thousand bells tolled a nation’s requiem. Officers of public trust, from the president of the United States on down to governors of commonwealths and mayors of cities, issued proclamations to the people, reciting the nation’s loss and inviting them in some suitable manner, to give expression to their sorrow.
From every direction, at home and abroad, words of condolence were sent to the bereaved widow and stricken family; for in the death of General Grant, not only had a loving family that has tenderly and affectionately hung over his couch of suffering; nor a community whose every impulse had been dictated by generous feelings of sympathy; nor a nation for whose life and peace and prosperity he had unselfishly given all the years of his vigor and manhood and on whose scroll of worthies, side by side with the cherished names of the immortal Washington and Lincoln, had been indelibly inscribed the name of the fallen hero; but a civilized world throughout whose every part the name of Grant had become a household trophy, had come to sit as a common mourner.
For many long and weary months, this greatest of military chieftains had been a sufferer: protracted first by reason of injuries sustained in a fall, and then with a cancerous affection of the throat. Unable at times to eat or sleep, or to communicate with those at his bed side; assured by the persistency of the disease of the certainty of his dissolution; sensitive of the wrong committed in depriving him of the means to provide for his desolate household, yet never in any instance did a murmur or a word of complaint escape from his lips.
No one can adequately describe the deep suspense which filled the hearts of the American people during his prostration. All were anxious as to the probable outcome of his condition. The most eminent physicians were constantly at his side, directing every expedient that medical wisdom and skill were capable of employing. Every day, dispatches conveyed to all the land suitable information relative to his condition. Every wish of the sufferer was anticipated, and every want most faithfully gratified. The movements of his friends and physicians were closely observed by the eager throngs that gathered around the home of the patient. The whole land had its hand upon the throbbing pulse and its mutations of feeling rose or fell according to the symptoms.
When the hot, sultry days of midsummer came, to avoid their enervating influence, General Grant was removed from his own residence in New York to a quiet, cool retreat generously tendered him on Mt. McGregor. It was hoped by all that the refreshing mountain air would give tone to the wasting system. For six weeks longer the vital functions performed their office, but the end came at last, and after a brave, patient, and persistent struggle with the last earthly energy, he who had passed unharmed through the countless dangers of a hundred battle fields, and at whose feet, had been laid, again and again, the arms of a fallen foe, was at last compelled to surrender to the conqueror of all. What the arts of war had failed to accomplish, was effected at last when the tocsin of war had been hushed into silence by the symphonies of peace.
In harmony with that spirit of homage that calls the people of the land together today to offer, with bowed heads and heavy hearts, a memorial tribute to the deceased hero, we have left our homes and occupations to drop with them a tear of sorrow, and to renew with them our devotion to the cause in whose defense he won his renown. This occasion calls for the laying aside of all sectionalism, of all distinctions of color or creed. Party lines should merge into the common sorrow and all classes should view this loss as their common heritage.
It is neither possible nor would it be proper, in the brief time before me, to enter into any minute analysis of the life and public services of General Grant. The journals of the land for these twenty years have so abounded with references to him that every child has grown familiar with his life and deeds. He has been the most striking figure of the nineteenth century. Other men have risen to distinction, but no other man ever obtained a position as world-wide in its prominence. No other person has won a record of such deserving merit in the face of such grave responsibilities. He had his opposition, but in every effort of his life, he acted upon convictions of duty and right, and proved himself true to the trust reposed in him. He came up from the ranks of the lowly. He was without the prestige of birth or wealth to secure to him nobility and influence. Every stage of progress reached bore evidences of the single-handed struggle through which he had come. His was a life of deeds and not of words. Modest to a fault, his reticence won him the title of “the silent man.” He was free from the spirit of fault finding. He was no croaker. Gentle as a woman, he was, nevertheless, as solid as the rock. Without ostentation; oblivious to the spirit of flattery; free from pride at his many achievements; firm in his convictions; indomitable in his undertakings, he moved forward in the open path of duty as only a true great man was able to do.
The heroism of his life has become the inspiration of thousands, infusing a profounder love of country, a grander ideal of manhood, a nobler love of duty, and a purer devotion to the right.
Three important epochs belong to the life of General Grant.
1st. It is in the profession and office of a soldier that General Grant appears to the best advantage. From time to time the world has produced many eminent military leaders, but no injustice will be done to the life and eminent services of any of them if it be said that the annals of history has failed to produce his equal.
Rome had its Caesar and Greece its Alexander. England reveres the name of Wellington and France points with pride to the first Napoleon. Victor Immanuel will live in the annals of liberated Italy, and Von Moltke in the sturdy heart of Germany. America does homage to the illustrated name of Washington.
But viewed in the light of the nineteenth century—in the light of every event that clusters around the lives of these heroes of history; in the light of the circumstances and issues involved in the struggles through which they obtained their distinction; in the light of advancement in both military prowess and the appliances of war; in the light of the cumulative experience which has come down through forty centuries to the assistance equally as well of friend and foe—the impartial historian, who shall hereafter write the history of the world’s great men, will feel amply justified in pronouncing General U. S. Grant the ablest general the world has ever produced. One already has called him “the first soldier and the first citizen” of the American Republic.
Many, whose names, like Philip of Macedon, and Alexander and Napoleon, have obtained a place in History’s Valhalla of heroes, after all, were actuated to the deeds performed by the love of self; by personal ambition; by the love of power. Little cared they for the welfare of others. Little cared they for the true ends of government. The love of glory became their inspiring genius. They fought for self and empire.
In an utterance made in 1877 in London, General Grant said, “Although a soldier by education and profession, I have never felt any sort of fondness for war, and I have never advocated it, except as a means of peace.” He sought the elevation of the public good and the welfare of his race. He was a hero in the typical, the truest, the divine sense.
His advancement in military rank came up by promotion on merit, through every grade of the military service from brevet lieutenant to general of the army. He entered the military academy at West Point at the age of 20. In the war between the United States and Mexico, he bore a valorous part with his regiment at the battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma; Monterey, and the siege of Vera Cruz. He was promoted for gallantry on the field of Molina del Ray, and again at the storming of Chapultepec.
In 1854 he resigned his commission in the army, having risen to the rank of captain, and for a few years he followed farming near St. Louis, afterward entering upon mercantile life with his father and brother in Galena.
On the 13th of April, 1861, Fort Sumpter fell. On the 15h President Lincoln issued his first call for troops, and on the 19th, just six days from the fall of Sumpter, Grant was drilling a company of volunteers in Galena. Four days later he took his company to the city of Springfield. Remaining for a few weeks to assist in organizing the troops of the state, Governor Yates commissioned him colonel and gave him command of the 21st regiment of Illinois infantry. Moving soon after to the seat of war, he reported to Brigadier General Pope and was stationed at Mexico, Missouri. On August 23rd he was commissioned brigadier general of volunteers, his commission taking rank from May 17th. His first military achievement was the seizure of Paducah, Kentucky. After this he fought the battles of Belmont, Ft. Henry, and Ft. Donelson. His reply to General Buckner, in command at Ft. Donelson, who sent to him asking terms of capitulation, revealed a trait that became eminently characteristic in his entire service. “No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works.”
For these services, General Grant was at once promoted to be Major-General, and appointed commander of the District of Tennessee. After this came the memorable battle of Shiloh; Corinth was taken; Vicksburg, that Gibraltar of the west, was besieged and captured. Johnston was driven out of Mississippi, Bragg was defeated at Chattanooga.
General Grant, following these victories, was made a Lieutenant General, and placed over the entire union army. In March, 1864, he began those grand movements, which led to the fall of Richmond; which gave Thomas victory in Tennessee; which gave us the fall of Atlanta and Sherman’s march down to the sea; which joined the armies of the east and west in a grand cordon of ruin around the army of Lee, and which culminated at last in the laying down of the arms of the confederacy at Appomattox.
2nd. To those who served in the Union army during these dark and bloody days, the death of General Grant comes with peculiar force. Hundreds of thousands of brave and noble men marched and fought under the very eye of that beloved and trusted leader, while under his supreme command, the mighty columns moved gradually forward to victory. To each one of these veterans of the war, the death of General Grant comes as a personal bereavement. Nor is there lack of the kindest feeling for the memory of the illustrious dead on the part of the defeated army. Those who espoused the cause of the South and followed under the leadership of Johnston and Lee, remember with gratitude the magnanimity of the victor in the hour of their humiliation and defeat.
History teaches us that the embers of civil warfare are slow to die. A contest waged between brother and brother is waged most bitterly of all. And yet, the short space of twenty years finds the whole South pouring forth tears of honest grief upon the bier of him to whom it yielded up the sword upon the field of battle.
One by one the heroes of the blue and of the gray are passing over the silent river. As we who remain unite in performing our last sad duties to the Nation’s dead, let us remember that with the same starry flag, floating over us, and with the benign influence of the same institutions yielding to us their protection, we are brothers, and laying aside the bitter memories of the past, let us devote ourselves to building up
A union of hearts, a union of hands,
A union that none may sever.
A union of lakes, and a union of lands,
And the American Union forever.
While he was preeminently a soldier, yet we must not fail to view the life of General Grant as possessing many of the distinguishing traits of statesmanship. We are no little surprised that one whose education and life had been so closely devoted to the duties of a soldier should have attained such eminence in the management of the machinery of government. In 1868, and again in 1872, by the suffrages of the people, he was elected to fill the highest office in the gift of the Nation. In the second election he received a popular majority over Horace Greeley of nearly 800,000 votes. At the Republican National Convention of 1880, his name was prominently urged for a third term, and defeated only on the ground of the precedent.
While no man, however capable and honest, has ever occupied the Presidential chair without carpings and criticism upon his plans and methods, nevertheless General Grant in the eight years of his public service as Chief Executive, gave almost unbounded satisfaction. It must be remembered that he assumed the reins of government at a critical juncture. The Nation was just emerging from the awful crisis of civil war. The machinery of state was not, as yet, properly adjusted. The spirit of bitterness that for so long a time had held sectional sway, was not assuaged. It was a time of peculiar embarrassment, and yet, in his recommendations to Congress, and in the administration of the laws of the land, General Grant exercised such wise discretion, such magnanimity of spirit, such discernment of the true wants of the people, such honesty of purpose in the maintenance of the law, and such loyalty to the welfare of the Federal Union, that he greatly aided in the removal of the dark shadows which had so long enveloped the whole land, and in inaugurating an era of peace and prosperity whose benign influences still continue to minister to and comfort the people.
In the field of statesmanship, those same elements of modesty and firmness attended him. He made no display. In public address his words were few and well chosen. He, unlike many others, magnified the office rather than that the office should magnify him.
At the close of his term of office, accompanied by Mrs. Grant, he made a tour around the world, visiting all the leading Nations, in whose courts he met a royal welcome that did honor to his native land. In the records of time, no other man ever met with such a royal ovation at the hands of the Nations. In honoring the man, they honored the land of his birth, and the principles enunciated and defended by him, and on which his country was founded. He went abroad as an American to study the methods of government in oriental lands, and to build up the spirit of amity that binds us to the Nations.
3rd. Viewing General Grant as a citizen, we observe that he recognized and practiced only those elements which build up and better the condition of a people. All his so-called mistakes and his misfortunes came from the abuse of confidence by others. He chose for companions those whom he believed to be worthy.
In his line of duty as a commander, he appointed only those to position in whose capability and integrity he felt to trust, and none of the many proved the wisdom of his choice as did the great Thomas—“the Rock of Chickamauga”—and Sherman, and Sheridan, “the hero of Winchester.”
In domestic life he was a kind husband and an affectionate father. In the closing scenes of his life, his love of home and the dear ones about him revealed itself in all its resplendency. After his death, a letter was found upon his person directed to his wife, in which he said: “Look after our dear children and direct them in the paths of rectitude. It would distress me far more to think that one of them could depart from an honorable, upright, and virtuous life than it would to know that they were prostrated on a bed of sickness from which they were never to arise alive. They have never given us any cause for alarm on their account, and I earnestly pray they never will. With these few injunctions, and the knowledge I have of your love and affection, and of the dutiful affection of our children, I bid you a final farewell until we meet in another, and I trust a better, world. You will find this on my person after my demise.”
In matters of religion, like many great men, he said but little. St. Augustine once being asked, “What is the first article in the Christian religion?” replied, “Humility.” “And what the second?” “Humility.” “And what the third?” “Humility.”
When General Grant approached the subject of religion while there was a broad, catholic spirit, yet there was revealed a spirit of reverence and commendable humility.
When he was in Paris on his tour around the world, a great Sunday race was arranged for the entertainment of the distinguished American traveler and his party. The French President was greatly surprised at the answer of General Grant to the invitation to attend the race arranged as a special mark of honor. The General sent a courteous declination with the explanation that as an American citizen he wished to observe the American Sabbath as a day of rest. At different times during his illustrious life, he showed a profound respect for the Lord’s day.
When asked by his pastor, Dr. Newman, “what was the supreme thought on his mind when eternity seemed so near?” he replied, “The comfort of the consciousness that I had tried to live a good and honorable life.” These words revealed “the hidden life of his soul.”
Among his last utterances was this one, given in response to the assurance that “we are praying for you.” “Yes, I know, and I feel very grateful to the christian people of the land for their prayers in my behalf: Catholics, Protestants, and Jews, and all the good people of the nation, of all parties as well as religions, and all nationalities, seem to have united in wishing or praying for my improvement. I am a great sufferer all the time, but the facts that I have related are compensation for much of it. All that I can do is to pray that the prayers of all those good people may be answered so far as to have us all meet in another and better world.”
So this hero lived, believed, and died. Unpretentious in life, of but few words, actuated by honorable convictions, choosing only such actions as were commendable, recognizing his supreme allegiance to God, loyal to his family and to his country, brave amid the most trying dangers, not unmindful of the esteem of his friends, wisely planning for his loved ones and for his own future, in the days of the greatest capability, he fell asleep.
The Nation mourns today a citizen, a statesman, a soldier fallen. He lived nobly; he did his duty well. He rests from his labors. May God bless the bereaved family, and his sorrowing countrymen who gather this day to do honor to his memory. And may God bless the land of his birth, on whose uplifted banners posterity will find inscribed the names of America’s illustrious trio: Washington—“The sage of Mt. Vernon,” “Lincoln—“The martyred President,” and Grant—“Our great commander.”
REV. DR. KIRKWOOD’S ADDRESS.
“They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.” Job 24:24.
The Bible gives many illustrations of due honor rendered by the people to departed leaders. David’s lament over the fall of Saul and Jonathan will stand forever as one of the most touching and noble eulogies pronounced upon the dead.
A man nobler and more happy than Saul, both in his living and in his dying, has gone from the sight of the American people; and today his mortal remains are consigned to the grave. This hour the funeral cortege moves in solemn splendor to the burial place, to lay the dust of the old soldier to sleep with its kindred duet; and we, unable to join the throng around his bier, meet here to pay tribute to his memory.
For twenty-three years Ulysses Simpson Grant has stood in the eyes of the world one of the foremost and grandest figures in American affairs.
Prior to 1862 he was almost unknown. The captain of Fort Donelson, in February of that year, brought him to the notice of the whole people. This was followed by the two days battle at Shiloh, April 6th and 7th, 1862, a tremendous struggle in which the advantage was with the enemy at first, but from whom it was wrested by skill and strength of endurance, and the close of the second day saw the forces of Johnston and Beauregard beaten and broken, in rapid retreat, while their greatest leader was left to fill a soldier’s grave.
Next in the great moves was the campaign of Vicksburg—one of the boldest and most difficult, as well as one of the most successful campaigns of the war. On the 4th of July, 1863, the city fell. The total loss of the rebels in this siege was the fortified city with 172 cannons, 15 generals, 42,000 prisoners, 12,000 killed, and 6,000 scattered stragglers, besides all the small armies. Meanwhile, Rosecrans was cooped up at Chattanooga in great peril. Bragg was sure of capturing the whole army. Grant was sent to replace Rosecrans. At once the whole situation was changed. Plans were laid and put in operation; and on the 25th of November, 1863, Bragg was beaten on Lookout Mountain and Missionary ridge, and driven away in utter panic.
In March, 1864, Grant was promoted. The grade of Lieutenant General, originally created for Washington in 1798, had been conferred on the veteran General Scott, by request. This grade was revived, and the full honor conferred on Gen. Grant: the second American to whom it was given. He was made commander-in-chief of all the armies of the United States. Going east he made his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac. Halleck was made chief of staff, with headquarters at Washington. Sherman was put in command of the military division of the Mississippi. McPherson succeeded to the command of the army and department of the Tennessee, and being, soon after, killed, Thomas succeeded to that command. Banks remained in command in the Southwest beyond the Mississippi. Butler held command of the Army of the James; and to Sheridan was given the Army of the Shenandoah.
The campaign opened in 1864, all along the line. The first heavy battle was that of the Wilderness in May, followed by the Spotsylvania and Coal Harbor; and thence to Petersburg.
Starting at the same time with Grant, Sherman fought his way to Atlanta, and on the 1st of September captured that city—next to Richmond, then the most important city of the South. On the 19th of September Sheridan fought and won the battle of Winchester. Again Early, reinforced, gave battle to Sherman’s forces at Cedar Creek; and, on the 19th of October, was scattered and broken up forever, the last rebel Army of the Shenandoah, and its camps, caissons, artillery, small arms, ambulances, and thousands of prisoners fell into Sheridan’s hands.
Meanwhile Sheridan had started out his grand march through the heart of the confederacy to the sea, leaving to Thomas the care of the rebel army under Hood. Sherman made one long triumphal march to the end. Thomas, at Nashville, met Hood and practically annihilated his splendid army of 50,000 men, capturing 13,000 prisoners, 72 cannons, and scattering the broken remnant of the rebel army. By March 1st Sherman had reached the heart of North Carolina, and was coming up in the rear of Richmond, Gen. Joseph Johnston being utterly unable to check his march.
While his lieutenants were thus crowding and crushing the life out of the Confederacy, in their respective places, Grant was holding Lee in a vice at Petersburg and Richmond. Both were strongly fortified and the fighting was tremendous. Grant was crowding closer and closer. On April 2nd, 1865, Lee’s lines were broken in three places, and he telegraphed Davis, “Richmond must be evacuated tonight.” On Monday, April 3rd, the Union General Weitzel took possession of the city while Grant hurried his army in pursuit of Lee. And then, on the 9th of April, at Appomattox, he captured Lee and his entire army, and the war was closed. He who, at the beginning of the war, was an unknown captain, had risen step by step to the highest possible rank. He had been pitted in the wager of battle against all the ablest generals of the Confederacy: A. S. Johnston, Beauregard, Joseph Johnston, Bragg, and Lee, and he had beaten each in turn, and left them helpless.
Many have attempted to depreciate his military genius; but this is manifestly unjust. His own unassuming modesty gave them something of an opportunity. There was nothing of parade about him, and he never seemed to think of himself as great. Yet he was great as a general beyond any man America has produced. In comparison with Lee, he cannot suffer, for he beat Lee on the very ground where so often Lee had conquered others. If it be said that Lee had not as many men, yet he was on his own ground, and had the inside lines. And what that means may be read in the light of Antietam, and still better, at Gettysburg, where Lee was beaten at his best and strongest, by confessedly inferior men—men who could not beat him on his own ground. But Grant, going on that ground, with the same army that had hitherto been beaten, overmatched, and beat, and broke him down, and ground his army to powder.
Compared with Wellington, Grant exhibited the same cool, clear insight into the situation; the same power over his men; the same inflexible tenacity of purpose; the same unflinching courage; the same patient fortitude under temporary disaster; the same energy and skill in redeeming disaster and winning victory; and he did this with larger armies and on a more extended field of action than the Iron Duke was ever called to try.
Compared with Moltke, he does not suffer in the least. The German Field-marshal had studied the ground which was finally the seat of war for years. He knew every road and water course—had a complete topographical map of the whole territory. Grant had no such maps of the seat of war in America.
The German leader had absolute control of his armies and was sure of his place, having the autocratic power of the Emperor for his support. Grant was in control of the armies, but he could not rely implicitly on the backing of the government. Stanton was autocratic and hard to please. The Congress was factious and was a difficult body to manage, its counsels often divided. The governors of the states were able men, as politicians, statesmen, but critical and ever ready to find fault. The press was free to criticize, and used its freedom to the extent of license. The peace democracy, in session at Chicago, proclaimed the war a failure, and the stump speakers and the press of that party never spared Grant. All these elements had to be controlled in the rear, while the enemy had to be conquered in the front; and it was only Grant who did it. I do not derogate from the honor of the President; but if Grant had been less than he was, the power of the President would have been exercised in vain. Again: The German Field-marshal had leaders, and subordinates of every rank, who knew how to obey. They had been taught that from boyhood. Many of the American leaders did not appreciate the one-man power. They had ideas of their own, and were not slow to utter them in captious, critical, jealous terms; and often they were half-hearted in rendering obedience where they did not fully approve the plans of their commander. Yet again: The total area of France was but about 260,000 square miles—about the size of one single state in the Confederacy—while the seat of the Franco-Prussian war embraced only about 85,000 square miles, or ten times the extent of the seat of war in France. Once more: The entire strength of the German army was 1,300,000 men, of which over 600,000 were in the field, if memory is not at fault. The force at Grant’s command, in the field, was about 1,000,000 of men, according to the best estimates I can find.
Now, on a territory of 85,000 square miles with over half a million men, Moltke played his game of chess: played it as a master, and won. On an area ten times as great, with only twice the number of men, when, to make the candidates equal in this respect, he should have had ten times as many men as the German over an unknown country full of mountains, rivers, swamps, natural obstructions innumerable, Grant played his game in an equally masterly way, and won. On the 3rd of March, 1863, he was made Lieutenant General and Commander in Chief. On the 24th he began the work of reorganizing his armies for the summer campaign. About the 3rd of May, the work began. From the Atlantic to the Rio Grande, 1,200 miles, was the extent of his front. The armies of the James, the Potomac, West Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Southwest were all put in motion, and the fleets as well; and they were kept in motion, not blindly, but wisely and harmoniously, guided by the one-controlling mind.
Check after check was given to the foe; army after army was destroyed; point after point was gained and held, until on April 9th, 1865, less than a year from the beginning of his play, Grant delivered check-mate at Appomattox, and the game was done.
By forcing the play, he made Lee and Johnston and Hood and the rest obey his will; as formerly Lee had held McClelland, Pope, Burnside, and Hooker obedient. Lee was a master; but when Grant took command, the mastery of Lee was done. Thenceforth Grant was the master. And when the conflict was done, the stake for which Davis and Lee had played was lost. Secession was killed. The doctrine of state rights was sunken in a sea of blood. The supremacy of the general government was established. The degree of emancipation was established and slavery was no more.
No greater game, for greater stake, was ever played; no game was ever better played, or more triumphantly won; and the winning stamped the winner as one of the greatest soldiers, if not the greatest, of his age—great enough to rank with the greatest of any age. And this was completed with the completion of the General’s forty-third year. He was yet a young man. In 1866, July 25, a bill passed both houses of Congress creating the office of “General of the Army of the United States,” and limiting it to Grant alone. On the same day he received his commission in accordance therewith.
Further honor was in store for him. On the 19th of May, 1868, the National Republican Convention in Chicago, on the first ballot, nominated him as its candidate for the Presidency of the United States. In November of the same year he was elected by an overwhelming majority. In November, 1872, he was again elected to that high office. When his second term expired, he went abroad, and made a journey round the world. This journey was one long ovation, in which, crowned heads, soldiers, statesmen, and private citizens in Europe and Asia alike did him honor. On his return home, he was persuaded to let his name be used again as a candidate for the presidency. He failed. It has been said he was ambitious. Perhaps he was. Who of his detractors would not have been? But perhaps it was not a vain, unworthy ambition. He may have felt that he had made mistakes in his former presidency, and had been betrayed, and trusted that he should be able to give a better administration. Be that as it may, he was not nominated. And there is no ground for charging him with base motives, any more than any other man who has aspired to the office.
Such were the honors heaped upon him. Measured by the standard of men, he fairly won them: colonel, brigadier general, major general, lieutenant general, and general, in military life. In civil life, twice President of the United States, and then, honors extraordinary, abroad. And all this fell to his lot within the brief space of fifteen years. Exalted indeed, but exalted for a little while!
And now comes a sad chapter in his life. Going into business, he doubtless thought to pass the remainder of his days in honorable employment. But he did not understand the ways of sharks, and he was made the prey of one. He was robbed of his earnings, robbed of the treasures that to him were above price—the gifts of appreciation—from friends, government at home and authorities abroad—robbed for a time of his good name, until the facts were brought out.
It is a sad, a painful chapter in his life, but one from which we must not turn away. And it is gratifying to know that the unblemished integrity of the man shines out even in the midst of this ruin—that he kept back nothing that could help to meet his pecuniary obligations.
But this was near the end. He did not long survive. How much, or how little, the shock of this transaction had to do with the development of the disease which ended his life, we shall never know; and it is of no importance. The little time of exaltation came to him. It passed by, and he is “taken out of the way as all others” have been. He has been cut off as the ripened grain. What boots it to speak of his illness and his death? You all know the story. Let me indicate some of the points of his character for the benefit of the young men here today.
1. He was diligent in business. “Whatever his hand found to do,” he did with his might. He was not always successful in business. Indeed in the common occupation of that term, he was never successful. As a farmer he constantly grew poorer. As loan agent and collector, he lost still more. As a member of the leather firm at Galena, he was barely able to maintain his family. As President, he was only partially successful. The only place where the man appeared with the strength that was really his, was at the head of the army. There he was easily chief among American soldiers, and equal to the ablest European. But let none say, therefore, that as a man he was not great. To be a great soldier in a time like that of Grant, is to be greater than any money king, or any combination of them. Under the Providence of God, General Grant was the man who saved the money kings and their value, as well as the poor. His were the shoulders that bore up the temple of American liberty and prosperity. He put his whole soul into the business of studying the art of war in his youth; and when called on to act the part of a man, he was ready for the part. He did not need to fall back and study anew the first principles of his art. And in the application of these principles, he was thorough. An enemy was to be beaten. It was not enough to drive him off of the field. He must be crushed—his power to do evil destroyed. Did you ever think how completely Grant destroyed the forces opposed to him before he let go? Look at Donelson. A whole army was destroyed. At Shiloh the army of Johnston and Beauregard was so badly broken that it was long unable to make any strong resistance. At Vicksburg an army of 60,000 men was literally wiped out of existence. And he finished his work by wiping out that of Lee, with all his fortifications at Petersburg and Richmond. Diligent work, with all the force a man has, is the way to success.
2. Patience and fortitude under adversity, is another lesson of Grant’s life. No man ever heard a wail or a whine from him during all the years of adversity and toil prior to war.
Then after he won Donelson, the jealousy of superiors was awakened; and again after Shiloh. “He was incompetent.” “He owed success to anybody or thing but his own hard work.” “He was a besotted drunkard.” “He was unfit for command.” But to all the storm of vituperation, to all the injustice of superiors, he was silent. No more pathetic picture is presented than that of the man whose promptitude saved Kentucky to the Union, kept open the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, the way into the heart of the South, took Donelson with a whole army and all its stores, beat two of the ablest Generals of the South, and drove their army more than decimated, a scattered and broken mass, southward—such a man retired from his command, practically under arrest in the very midst of the army he had led to victory, coming daily to his superior’s tent for orders, and daily sent away by an aide, with the brief answer, “No orders for you today, sir.” But no man heard a single wail or moan from him. And so it was in the financial crash in which he was involved by another’s crime. And so it was through all the weary months while his life was ebbing away. Calm, self-controlled, patient, brave, he suffered, waited for the storm to pass, the pain to end, the day to dawn, the triumph to come.
3. His generosity to his foes.
He could crush them on the battlefield, but he could admire their constancy to their cause, their knowing and skill. And when they were crushed, he could be generous beyond most; as witnesses his treatment of Lee and his army at Appomattox—treatment which wrung tears from Lee himself. And, again, when his business partner had financially ruined him, left him without a home or the means of subsistence, yet was caught in the toils and sent to prison; no man heard a word of abuse fall from his lips. Where other men would have uttered curses loud and deep, Grant was silent. If he cherished enmity and hate to the man who brought ruin to his home, and the last storm-cloud over his life, no man heard the expression of such hate. In his generosity he left his destroyer alone.
4. His correctness as a family man is worthy of note, and imitation.
The wife he loved and wedded in his early, obscure days was beloved and honored to the last. And when, in anticipation of his death, great cities were offering their choicest sites for his last resting place, he would have none where the dust of his long-loved and honored wife might not rest beside him. As a husband, as a father, he was ever the pure, stainless, honorable gentleman.
That he was perfect, none will claim. That he was great, and true, and pure, generous, and noble, none can deny.
For his christianity, I cannot speak. I do not know. When he was a colonel and the regimental chaplain had joined the regiment, Grant said to him, “Chaplain, when I was at home, and visitors stopped at my house, I always invited them to ask a blessing at the table. I suppose it is as much needed here as there, and I shall be glad to have you do it whenever we sit down to a meal.”
But I am not his judge. His heart life was known to God and to himself. His wife’s declaration is that he was a Christian. I am glad to accept that declaration, and to hope and believe that he was. And I know that he is in the hands of one who is wise and just, and merciful, “Who doeth all things well.” There I am glad to leave him.
We owe him a boundless debt of gratitude—one we can never repay. He has gone from among us. The tireless brain is still. The generous, brave, loyal, patient, manly heart beats no more. The strong, faithful, noble soul has left its earthly dwelling place. It has proved the mystery of death, the splendor and righteousness of the judgment throne. It has gone to its eternal reward. This day and hour, a mourning nation turns to an open grave in which loving hands with reverend touch deposit his dust. The sympathies of all our millions twine in prayer and benediction around the lonely widow in her woe, and cover her with their tenderness and love; and they mingle no less with the sorrows of the children whom he left behind, and whom he loved with an undying love. Peace to his ashes! Let the earth lie lightly over them! Let the grass wave, the flowers bloom, and the sweeping breezes sigh a requiem over them! And may peace, eternal peace, be to his soul, in that fair land,
“Where falls no hail, or rain or any snow,
Nor ever wind blows loudly; but it lies
Deep meadowed, happy, fair, with orchard-lawns,
And bowery hollows crowned with summer leas.”
RIVERSIDE REST.
The Remains of General Grant Escorted by an Immense Procession
To The Final Resting Place at Riverside Park.
NEW YORK IN MOURNING.
The Continuous Roll of Muffled Drums—The Minute Guns—The Order to March.
Route of the Procession—The Companies Participating—The Arrival at
Riverside and the Final Ceremonies.
The Services in Various Cities of the Union.
Winfield Courier, Thursday, August 13, 1885.
NEW YORK, August 8. The closing day of the funeral services over the remains of the late General dawned with a clear sky, bright sun, and cooling breeze more beautiful. Four o’clock passed and the gray dawn had deepened into red daylight. Nearby the strains of the dirge music crept out on the morning air. Sunrise was near, and the sad music grew more distinct. Then the blue-coated veterans of Meade Post, Philadelphia, five hundred strong, came tramping to the dirge music of trumpets. The veterans entered the plaza, marched past, while the muffled drums made their footsteps heavy. The guns boomed out, the chimes of Old Trinity pealed mournful notes. The sound of the muffled drums grew fainter.
It was sunrise. The day was born, the last, for the solemn services which are to mark the commitment to the tomb of all that is mortal of him whom the Nation mourns. From the firing of the sunrise gun this morning, the boom of minute guns fired at stated intervals by both military and naval details selected to pay tribute to the Nation’s dead, is heard proclaiming to the people that the last sad rites are under way, and before the day closes the hero of the Union will have been committed to his tomb. Church bells began tolling, ringing in the mournful cadence, and their pealing has added to the general feeling of sorrow and gloom that is everywhere displayed. Not in the history of the metropolis or of the Nation has there been such universal mourning as on this occasion nor has there been exhibited such wide-spread sympathy for the family of which the Nation’s hero was late the head.
The streets along the route laid out for the passage were packed with people since early this morning. Many have remained up all night for the purpose of finding an advantageous position to view the pageant. Military and civic bodies are marching to the beat of muffled drums, and are marching to and fro taking up positions in the streets leading to Broadway, and preparing to fall in at the signal for the start. Everything is bustle and the crowds are well behaved and police arrangements so perfect that the military and Grand Army posts experience but little inconvenience in going to the places assigned to them. The funeral cortege will undoubtedly be the grandest and most imposing ever witnessed. Fully one hundred thousand men follow the body to the grave at Riverside Park. Thousands were disappointed when the doors closed at one a.m., not being able to see the remains. The line then extended clear around the park and some distance along Broadway and adjacent streets. It is estimated that fully 300,000 people viewed the remains yesterday. Immediately after the doors closed, the plaza was closed. The undertakers took charge of the remains, and allowed those present to take one last look.
Then the casket closed forever. Then the dead was left in the care of the guards who stood erect within the closed iron gates and beneath the black drapings. The night wore on and the grey of daylight was creeping up the east. The still stir of the tomb-like corridors became heavy with the perfume of flowers near the dead.
At six o’clock Wilson Post, of Baltimore, marched by, followed by the Chicago organization, the last guard of the Grant G. A. R. post, save the thirteen who will attend the body to the tomb. Later General Hancock and his staff trooped slowly into the plaza from Broadway and presented front to the City Hall, and then moved to the end of the plaza. When they rested one hundred members of the Liderkranz Society filed up to the steps of the City Hall, and led by four instruments, sang with impressive effect the chorus of “The Spirits From Over the Water,” by Schubert, and the chorus of “The Pilgrims,” from “Tannhauser.” The regular guard filed into the open space at nine o’clock. Company “A,” Fifth Artillery, and Company “E,” Twelfth Infantry companies and the guard and regulars is under the entire command of Colonel Beck. The regulars took position beneath the trees opposite the City Hall and stood at rest. Then came the original guard of honor that was on duty at Mt. McGregor. These took places beside the remains, under command of Jno. H. Johnston, of the Grant Post, Brooklyn. The men as they stood were as follows: To the left of the casket, Comrades Corwin, Howatt, McDonald, Squires, Knight, and Gilliam. To the right of the casket, Comrades Tibbets, MacKeller, McKeever, Brodie, Collins, and Barker. At 9:35 the imposing funeral car, drawn by twenty-four jet black horses in black trappings, halted on the plaza in front of the City Hall steps. Inside the corridor Commander Johnson was waiting. “Columns in position, right and left,” was his command. The Veteran Guard of Honor stood erect.
“Lift remains,” was the next command. The twelve men stooped to the silver rails with gloved hands.
“March,” was the word. The body moved out upon the portico and down the steps with measured tread across the open space to the steps of the black waiting car. Commander Johnson stepped aside. The silver mountings glistened as the buried case and its honored burden was carried up and placed upon the dais in the mounted catafalque. The veterans retired down the steps. The Honor Guard, next to the hearse, on either side, took the same positions they had maintained to the remains while being borne to the hearse. The steps were drawn away from the funeral car. Commander Johnson took his place in the center and immediately behind the car. At his left and right, on either rear corner of the car were Comrades Downing and Ormstice of Wheeler Post, Saratoga. Next and directly behind these were representatives of the Loyal Legion abreast as follows: General John J. Wilhan, General C. A. Carlton, Paymaster George D. Barton, Lieutenant Colonel Floyd Clarkson, Lieutenant Colonel A. M. Clark, and Captain E. Blunt. The clergy and physicians had paid respect to the remains by alighting from the carriages and accompanying them from the steps to the hearse; they then entered their carriages.
THE START.
NEW YORK, August 8.—The carriages following the funeral car as it left the City Hall contained Rev. Dr. Newman, Bishop Harris, Bishop Potter, Rev. Dr. Chambers, Rev. Dr. Field, Rev. Dr. Bridgeman, Rev. Dr. West, Rev. Father Deshon, Robert Collyer, Rabbi Browne, and Drs. Douglass, Shrady, and Sands. Colonel Beck was in command of regulars. He commanded his company to positions, Company A on the right and Company E on the left of the hearse. The colored men were at the bridles of the twenty-four black horses. Sixteen men of Meade Post, of Philadelphia, of which Grant was a member, were directly in front. The David’s Island band preceded them. The signal was given and the line of coaches with the clergy moved off the plaza on to Broadway. The band stood waiting at the head of the funeral cortege. Colonel Beck advanced to the head of the line of black horses before the coach.
“Move on,” were his words of command with uplifted sword. The leaders stepped forward led by the colored men and in an instant the black line of horses had straightened the traces, and the wheels beneath the remains were moving. The hour was 9:47 and the band played a dirge to the tramp of the regulars. Thousands were beneath the trees and crowding the sides of the square, and looked silently on. The black funeral car rolled over the curb into Broadway. The black corridors of the City Hall were silent. Grant’s last journey was begun. Comptroller Low and Aldermen Sanger and Jachne emerged from the City Hall and entered the carriage that had drawn up in front. The members of the Common Council followed and entered carriages, and when it was ten o’clock the police lines were withdrawn, and people streamed across the piazza. The last scene was ended.
THE FAMILY—THE PRESIDENT.
NEW YORK, August 8.—The members of the Grant family, with the exception of Mrs. Grant, have decided to await the arrival of the funeral procession at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, where they are staying. Dr. Douglas joined them at nine a.m. Mrs. Sartoris was deeply affected during the meeting and sobbed as she shook the hand of the physician who bore such an important part in the closing days of her father’s life. At precisely ten o’clock the carriages drove up to the entrance and members of the family took seats in them as follows: Colonel Grant, accompanied by Mrs. Sartoris and Mrs. Fred Grant took seats in the first carriage. The second carriage was occupied by Mr. and Mrs. U. S. Grant and Senor Romero. Jesse Grant and wife entered the third. In the fourth were Mr. and Mrs. Cramer. The next carriage contained General Creswell and wife, and was followed by Potter Palmer and Mr. Honore. In another and the last carriage were Mr. Morton and Dr. Exel. At 10:30 a.m. President Cleveland appeared at the entrance of the hotel and entered his carriage. He was accompanied by Secretary Bayard. The President was dressed in a plain black suit, black high silk hat, and carried an umbrella. Following the carriage of Cleveland and those of the Grant family were the carriages containing Vice President Hendricks and delegation of the United States Senate and House of Representatives. These carriages formed in Twenty-third street three abreast on the line extending toward Sixth avenue, waiting the arrival of the catafalque. At precisely 11:45 General Hancock reached the head of the column, which was then at Twenty-third street and Broadway. Riding along the whole line of formation, from the City Hall on his coal black charger in front of his brilliantly uniformed staff, he was the cynosure of all eyes. He rode with easy grace, and as the people caught sight of the commanding figure of Gettysburg, they were inspired with expressions of admiration which were only partly suppressed by the solemn character of the occasion. On arriving at the head of the column, the General issued the order to march, and the mournful cortege began to move, wending its way up Broadway to the solemn music of bands, en route to Riverside Park.
THE PROCESSION.
NEW YORK, August 8. The cortege is moving in the following order.
Two platoons of mounted police.
Major-General Hancock and staff.
General Aspinwall, chief aide, and staff.
General Shaler and staff.
FIRST DIVISION TROOPS (UNDER ARMS).
Federal troops, 1,500.
United States Engineers Corps, 450.
Pall bearers in carriages.
Funeral car with catafalque upholding the body of General Grant.
Gentlemen of General Grant’s family in carriages.
Clergymen and Physicians of General Grant in carriages.
U. S. Grant Post, of Brooklyn, and Meade Post, of Philadelphia, escorts of honor.
United States Naval Brigade, 1,000.
First Division, N. G. S. N. Y., 4,500.
Second Division, N. G. S. N. Y., 3,000.
Division, N. G. S. N. J., 2,800.
First Regiment, Pennsylvania N. G., 500.
Second Regiment, Connecticut N. G., 500.
First Regiment, Massachusetts N. G., 700.
Battalion Virginia Volunteers, 200.
Governor’s Foot Guard of Hartford, Connecticut, 175.
Toffey Guard of Newark, N. J., 150.
Colimbo Guard, 100.
Washington Continental Guard, 100.
Old Guard, 80.
Veteran Association One Hundred and Fifty-fifth New York Volunteers, 75.
Highland Guard, 50.
Veteran Colored Guard, 50.
Union Veteran Corps, Washington, 50.
Gate City Guard, Atlanta, 50.
Veteran Zouaves, 30.
Ancient and Honorable Artillery, Hartford.
Veterans First New York Regiment.
Mounted Rifles.
Columbia Guard.
SECOND DIVISION (UNARMED VETERAN CORPS).
Posts of the Grand Army of the Republic of New York, 10,000.
Posts of the Grand Army of New Jersey, 3,000.
Posts of the G. A. R. of other States.
Veteran Associations of seventeen New York regiments.
Veteran Associations of New Jersey other than the G. A. R.
Veterans of the Civil War.
(Eight unattached associations.)
Loyal Legion Commanderies.
Sons of Veterans, twelve companies.
Seventh Regiment Veterans, 200.
National Veteran Association of Chicago, 10.
THIRD DIVISION (CIVIC BODIES).
The President of the United States.
Members of the Cabinet.
House and Senate Committees.
Admiral Jouett and staff.
Governors of the various States.
Mayor Grace and President Sanger, of the Common Council.
Members of the Common Council.
Commodore Chandler and staff.
District Attorney, Comptroller, and Chamberlain.
Register, County Clerk, Sheriff, and Coroners.
Judges of the various courts.
Heads of all municipal departments.
Majors and representatives of other cities.
Representatives of civic bodies.
The route is up Broadway to Fourteenth street, to Fifth avenue, to Fifty-seventh street, to the Boulevard, to Riverside avenue, to the tomb.
THE THIRD DIVISION.
NEW YORK, August 8.—The third division is the one which attracted the bulk of the attention.
The carriage in which President Cleveland rode was drawn by six black horses.
Immediately behind this carriage followed six other open carriages containing the Vice President and members of the President’s Cabinet.
Behind these followed a carriage drawn by four horses, in which were seated ex-Presidents Hayes and Arthur. The other civic guests followed in the order named below: United States Senators, ten carriages; Members of Congress, sixteen carriages; Admiral Jouett, one carriage; Foreign Ministers, ten carriages; Cabinet of General Grant, four carriages; retired army officers, ten carriages; General Grant’s staff, two carriages; family and relatives, seven carriages; clergy, four carriages; attending physicians, two carriages; pall bearers, six carriages; General Sheridan and staff, four carriages; chiefs of the bureaus of the War Department, four carriages; General Schofield and staff, one carriage; Judges of the Supreme Court, six carriages; Governor of Illinois and staff, eight carriages; Governor of Michigan and staff, three carriages; Governor of Wisconsin and staff, five carriages; Governor of Massachusetts and staff, ten carriages; Governor of New Hampshire and staff, three carriages; Governor of Connecticut and staff, four carriages; Governor of Vermont and staff, four carriages; Governor of Pennsylvania and staff, twelve carriages; Governor of New Jersey and staff, fifteen carriages; Governor of Rhode Island and staff, four carriages; Governor of Iowa and staff, two carriages; Governor of Dakota and staff, seven carriages; Governor of Virginia and staff, three carriages; Representatives of the Governor of Indiana, two carriages; Legislature of New York, thirty carriages. General Franklin, President of the Soldiers’ Home, one carriage. Messrs. Drexel and Childs, one carriage. Board of Indian Commissioners, two carriages. Mayor and Representatives of the City of Brooklyn, fifteen carriages. Mayor and Common Council of New York City, thirty-five carriages. Mayor and Common Council of Boston, six carriages. Mayor and Common Council of St. Louis, ten carriages.
ALL READY AT RIVERSIDE.
NEW YORK, August 8.—At Riverside all is ready at this hour, one p.m. for the reception of the remains. The burial services at the vault will be brief, but impressive, and consist of the service of the Methodist Episcopal Church for the dead. There will be no address. Dr. Newman and Bishop Harris will officiate. The services will be preceded by the ritual of the G. A. R., conducted by a detail of fifteen comrades from the George G. Meade Post No. 1, of Philadelphia. The members of the family and pall bearers will then withdraw and the coffin will be placed in the cedar “shell” by the undertaker and his assistants. The lead lining will be soldered together and the top of the box fastened on. It will then be placed in the steel case within the vault, which will be securely riveted. The undertakers and others will then withdraw and the salute will be fired, which will conclude the final ceremonies.
ARRIVAL AT THE TOMB—THE FINAL SERVICES.
NEW YORK, August 8.—The body arrived at the grave at 2:45 and the burial rites of the G. A. R. are now being performed. Dr. Newman will follow with the reading of the burial services of the Methodist Episcopal Church, after which the firing of three volleys of musketry and three salvos of artillery will do military honors to the dead. The ceremonies at the grave will conclude with a salute of twenty-one guns by the light battery, Fifth Artillery, and bugle taps.
FINISHED.
NEW YORK, August 8, 6 p.m.—The services ended as indicated in previous dispatches, the tomb has been closed, and the multitude has silently dispersed.
GRANT MONUMENT.
Winfield Courier, Thursday, August 6, 1885.
The committee of the “Grant Monument Association,” with headquarters at New York, have arranged with the Western Union Telegraph Company for the various operators throughout the country to receive contributions to the monument fund. Anyone desiring to contribute can get a receipt and proper credit by handing the same to Mr. Harris, at the S. K. depot.
Winfield Courier, Thursday, August 13, 1885.
The directors of the Mountain Company (Mt. McGregor) are talking of leading a movement, after the popular subscription to the Grant monument shall have been made, for cutting in the granite face of the hill a colossal profile of the General finishing his book. The estimated cost is about $100,000.
Winfield Courier, Thursday, August 20, 1885.
The New York Commercial Advertiser estimates the number of visitors to New York City to see General Grant’s funeral at 400,000, and their expenses as follows: Hotel expenses at $6, $2,400,000; traveling expenses at $5, $2,000,000; spending money at $10, $4,000,000. Total: $8,400,000. To this should be added, probably, $1,000,000 they expended to procure positions from which to view the funeral procession. The probability is that their total expenditures footed up $10,000,000, which is about $9,900,000 more than that city will contribute toward a monument.
GRANT MONUMENT FUND.
Winfield Courier, Thursday, August 20, 1885.
The City of New York is the most colossal and persistent beggar in the world. The opulent thousands and tens of thousands of people of that metropolis are a herd of swine. They are as able to raise a million of dollars to beautify their own city as the State of Kansas to raise fifty thousand dollars or the city of Winfield to raise one hundred dollars for a like purpose. Yet when it is proposed to ornament New York with the Bartholdi Statue at an expense of $250,000, New York can raise but a minor part of the amount but begs all over the United States to raise the larger part of the amount. Again, it is proposed to raise a suitable monument for General Grant at Riverside Park in the City of New York, a monument which would be the most attractive ornament that the metropolis will have, one that will cost about as much as the people of New York City made in clean profits off from the Grant funeral, yet they expect to raise the funds for that monument from the people at large throughout the United States by persistent begging and to accomplish their purpose at very little expense to themselves. Were the New Yorkers like the people of the West, they would raise a million of dollars in that city for the Grant monument fund in twenty-fours and never beg a cent for that purpose, though they need not refuse proffered contributions from other parts of the country. But they will get the money from the country and then make all the profits they can out of the erection of the monument and out of its visitors for all time.
While we desire to assist what we can in the erection of the grand monument to suitably commemorate the dead hero, we wish that monument and his tomb had been located at the National capital. As it is, we shall give our contribution and attention to the Grant monument to be erected at Leavenworth in our own State.
DODGING PERSECUTION.
Winfield Courier, Thursday, August 20, 1885.
Some of the Republican newspapers are disposed to turn the tables on the Democratic administration. They say that during the administration of Gen. Grant and other Republican presidents, the Democrats kept up a howling because the presidents took vacations in summer, although they were always within reach of telegraphic communication, while Cleveland is now hiding away in the Adirondacks, forty miles from any telegraph office, and neglecting his duties, and say that this is a poor showing for this vaunted business administration. But the case is different now. Republican presidents were not persecuted to death by an appetite for office, “a conspiracy for spoils,” while Cleveland is. Poor man, he has been hounded by the hungry horde for five months and the only wonder is that he is able to get to a hiding place. We don’t wonder that he prefers mosquitos, galli nippers, rattlesnakes, and hornets’ nests in the Adirondacks to the persecution he has endured at Washington, If we were in his place, we would either resign or bring Gen. Sheridan with the military power of the nation to Washington to help sit down on them as he did on the cattlemen.
Minister Cox and Other American Citizens Pay Touching Tributes to the Dead
Soldier, in Which English Sympathizers Join.
Winfield Courier, Thursday, August 20, 1885.
NEW YORK, August 18.—A cable special to the Herald, dated Constantinople, says a largely attended meeting of American citizens was held today at the Consul General’s office for the purpose of paying a tribute of respect to the memory of the late General Grant. The Rev. Dr. Wood, of the Scutari School Mission, presented, as the oldest resident, several resolutions which were unanimously adopted, expressing sympathy with the country and family of the dead General, and eulogizing his great qualities as a soldier, patriot, and statesman. Minister Cox introduced resolutions, in a very touching address, in which he referred to General Grant’s magnanimity as a conqueror, and the many proofs he had given that the reconciliation of the sections was ever the nearest thought to his breast. Mr. Dilon, of South Carolina, following Minister Cox, paid a warm tribute in behalf of the Southern people to the high qualities of the head and heart that had characterized the departed hero. He expressed the hope and belief that the last vestiges of antagonism between the North and South had been forgotten in the mourning over Grant’s grave. Several English sympathizers were also present, among others Woods Pasha and Major Tretter, a British military attache. A copy of the resolutions will be forwarded to the family of General Grant.
ADS.
Winfield Courier, Thursday, August 20, 1885.
We want 1,000 more BOOK AGENTS for the Personal History of
U. S. GRANT.
40,000 copies already sold. We want one agent in every Grand Army Post and in every township. Send for SPECIAL TERMS TO AGENTS, or secure agency at once by sending 50 cts. in stamps for outfit. Address FORSHEE & McMAKIN, Cincinnati, Ohio.
IN GENERAL GRANT’S MEMORY.
Winfield Courier, Thursday, August 20, 1885.
BADEN, BADEN, August 15. The Rev. Mr. White, the chaplain of the English Church of All Saints, conducted a service today in memory of General Grant. The church was decorated with wreaths of immortelles. Many Americans were present. Mr. White delivered an earnest sermon on General Grant’s career, comparing him to Wellington. The American visitors here consider the holding of the service a delicate and graceful act of courtesy on the part of Mr. White.
Winfield Courier, Thursday, August 27, 1885.
Visitors numbering thousands visit the tomb of General Grant daily. A New York dispatch referring to this crowd on the 16th inst. said: “As early as 9 o’clock this morning people began to gather in front of General Grant’s tomb, and from that time until dark the plaza and drive were covered with people. It is estimated that between 30,000 and 40,000 visitors passed in front of the tomb. The visitors filed past four abreast, the line extending across the plaza and some distance down the drive. Large numbers of out-of-town visitors were in the line.”
