Ohio History Journal

GRANT TABLET DEDICATION

GRANT TABLET DEDICATION.

ADDRESS OF GOVERNOR ANDREW L. HARRIS.

[At Point Pleasant, Ohio, the birth place of Ulysses S. Grant, there

was dedicated on Wednesday, October 2d, 1907, a tablet to the memory

of the great general and president. Many distinguished citizens partici-

pated, and of the several speeches, that of Governor Harris was especially

in sympathy with the occasion.-EDITOR.]

On this occasion I am doubly honored. It is my privilege

to respond to an inspiring address of welcome from Clermont

county's most eminent lady of letters, who is justly regarded

throughout our country as one of the most accomplished writers

in her department of literature, Mrs. Eliza Archard Connor.

I am at the same time here by your invitation to participate in

the exercises incident to the dedication of a monument that shall

fittingly mark the birthplace of the most distinguished native of

Clermont county and one of the most distinguished military

chieftains of the Republic and the world. For this rare oppor-

tunity which, through your kindness, comes to me as chief execu-

tive of the native state of Ulysses S. Grant, I most cordially

thank you. For your generous welcome I can make no adequate

response. You have made us feel that we are indeed at home

in your midst, that as something more than guests we share with

you in the consecrated services of this hour. The honor is

heightened by the presence of Generals Corbin and Grant, two

of our most eminent soldiers, whose participation in these exer-

cises is most fitting and welcome.

Words cannot add to the fame of him whose memory we

honor in this enduring tablet. His eulogies have been said. The

story of his achievements is familiar to every American. A cadet

at West Point in his seventeenth year; four years later a grad

uate from that institution; a lieutenant in the Mexican War with

promotion for distinguished services in the battle of Molino del

Rey and Chapultepec; presiding officer of the first union meeting

in Galena, Ill.; in rapid succession and for demonstrated merit,

380

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Grant Tablet Dedication. 381

colonel, brigadier general and major general of volunteers, major

general of the regular army, and lieutenant general and general

of the armed forces of the United States. Paducah, Ft. Henry,

Ft. Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, Peters-

burg, Richmond, Appomattox,-these are the steps by which

he rose in the nation's supreme crisis to the proud position of

first soldier and triumphant defender of the Republic.

I shall not dwell upon his public career. I leave that to

Judge Swing, the eminent jurist who is to follow me in the ad-

dress of this occasion. General Grant was an Ohio man in

something more than is indicated by his birth in this village, on

the 2₇th of April, 1822.

It is reported that some time after his death, a number of

military men who had fought on both sides in the Civil War

were discussing a question that has been raised in regard to

almost every one who has risen to great fame,--whether the

eminence attained was the result of good fortune of unusual

ability. Among the number was the Confederate general, S. B.

Buckner, of Ft. Donelson fame. One of the officers observed

that it was only the opportune or unusual ability.

"But," said Buckner, "he was a near man."

Another bystander remarked that there was nothing trans-

cendent in the genius of Grant and that any one of a score of

officers that might be named would have done equally well under

like circumstances.

"But," remarked Buckner again, "you must remember that

Grant was a near man."

A few questioning glances were directed toward the Con-

federate chieftain, but the conversation continued. Grant's oper-

ations about Richmond were freely criticised.

"But," interrupted Buckner, "for all that, Grant was a very

near man."

"What do you mean when you say that he was a near man?"

asked one of the critics.

"Why," replied Buckner promptly, "when I found that I

could not longer hold Ft. Donelson, Grant was right there to

receive my 'unconditional surrender.' When Pemberton, with

his exhausted army was compelled to capitulate at Vicksburg,

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382 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

Grant was on hand to receive his sword. When Lee yielded to

the inevitable and his devoted followers were ready to lay down

their arms at Appomattox, Grant was in the immediate vicinity

to stipulate the terms. He was a very near man."

The more we study the series of events that brought him

enduring fame, the more fully we shall appreciate this truth:

By nature and training and experience he was fitted for his

career of illustrious achievement. His victories were not the

result of chance; there are no chance victories.

In an altogether different sense, as we shall realize in the

perusal of the simple story of his early life, Grant was a near

man - near to us - by lineage and birth and the moulding influ-

ence of environment a typical Ohioan. It is proper for us to

recall on this occasion that he was ours by more than the acci-

dent of birth. His father came to the Western Reserve about

four years before Ohio was admitted into the Union. This father

learned his trade in the tannery of Owen Brown, the father of

John Brown. As they worked together and talked at times of

the evils of slavery, little did they dream of Harper's Ferry and

Appomattox; little did they think that their sons would figure

so prominently in the history of their country, that one should

inaugurate and the other triumphantly conclude a war for the

liberation of a race. Jesse Grant brought to this little village

on the banks of the Ohio the thrift, industry and virtue of New

England,- the fortitude, courage and hope of the pioneer. Here

his son, whose memory we honor, first saw the light of day. Not

far from here in an adjoining county, he grew up to young

manhood. His father owned and operated a tannery. Nothing

can surpass in interest his own simple narrative of his youthful

days:

"In my early days," says he, "every one labored more or

less in the region where my youth was spent. While my father

carried on the manufacture of leather and worked at the trade

himself, he owned and tilled considerable land. * * * I was

fond of agriculture and of all employment in which horses were

used. We had, among other lands, fifty acres of forest within

a mile of the village. In the fall of the year choppers were em-

ployed to cut enough wood to last a twelve-month. When I was

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Grant Tablet Dedication. 383

seven or eight years of age, I began hauling all the wood used

in the house and shops. .I could not load it on the wagons, of

course, at that time, but 1 could drive, and the choppers would

load and some one at the house unload. When about eleven

years old I was strong enough to hold a plow. From that age

until seventeen I did all the work done with horses, such as

breaking up the land, furrowing, plowing corn and potatoes,

bringing in the crops when harvested, hauling all the wood, be-

sides tending two or three horses, a cow or two, and sawing

wood for stoves, while still attending school."

How typical the young life here set forth in clear and sim-

ple outline. Like Washington and Lincoln, Grant grew up close

to the great heart of nature. Manual labor was his lot from

early childhood. He experienced the enervating influence of

neither luxury nor poverty. He was a conspicuous example of

what could be accomplished with the opportunities of his day and

generation,--a product of the social conditions prevailing in our

state in its first half century.

Over the southern Ohio hills he followed the plow; in the

primaeval forest he swung the ax and drove the team; here he

tended the flocks, cultivated the crops and helped to gather the

harvests in; through the meadows, by the winding stream and

under the open sky, with other bare-foot lads he wandered far on

excursions of joy and freedom. Here he developed the traits of

character that crowned his illustrious career. Duty called to

other states and his ashes now rest in the metropolis of the Re-

public, but by birth and nature he was ours. In this state he

remained until called to West Point, and to the close of life his

thoughts turned in loving memory to the Ohio farm where his

"youth was nurtured and sustained."

It was but natural, when this farmer lad had reached the

hour of his supreme triumph, that he should wear his honors

with becoming modesty, that he should be magnanimous toward

a vanquished foe, that he should say to the Confederate chieftain

at Appomattox, "I will instruct my officers who receive the

paroles to allow the cavalry and artillery men to retain their

horses and take them home to work on their little farms."