CHARACTER SKETCH OF GENERAL ULYSSES
S.
GRANT
BY JUDGE HUGH L. NICHOLS,
Chairman of the U. S. Grant Memorial
Centenary Association.
My earlier life was spent at New
Richmond, Cler-
mont County, Ohio, on the banks of the
Ohio River, five
miles west of Point Pleasant, where
Ohio's greatest son
first saw the light of day.
As a youth I was greatly interestd in
General Grant,
always having regarded him - and it
would seem,
rightly- as Ohio's most famous citizen,
and since he
was unquestionably Clermont County's
greatest son I
have made some study, beginning in
those early days,
of his life.
In July, 1885, on the occasion of his
death, I chanced
to be Clermont County correspondent for
a Cincinnati
paper and following instructions went
about the county
and gathered items of information that
had, perhaps,
theretofore been unpublished, having to
do with his
early life. At that time I met an old
uncle of the
General, bearing the name of Samuel
Simpson, who, al-
though greatly advanced in years, had a
clear mind and
perfect recollection of the early days
of his distinguished
nephew. In fact, Samuel Simpson had
been an inmate
of the home of General Grant, being at
that period of
his life unmarried and remaining a
bachelor for many
years thereafter.
Among many interesting facts narrated
to me on
this occasion were some circumstances
relating to the
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Character Sketch of General Ulysses
S. Grant 165
time when the boy was notified by the
Washington au-
thorities that he had been nominated by
General Hamer
as a cadet to the United States
Military Academy at
West Point. This old gentleman informed
me that he
prepared with his own hands a rude
trunk to hold the
few belongings of the boy, who was then
about to leave
home for practically the first time, on
a long journey.
It appeared that the boy bore the name,
as given in the
family Bible, of Hiram Ulysses Grant,
and after the
trunk had been prepared (the uncle of
the boy said) he
started to stencil on it the initials
of its owner, but to
their amazement they found that the boy
would go to
West Point with a trunk bearing the
initials, "H. U. G."
It was agreed between the uncle and the
nephew that a
boy going there with such initials
would probably under-
go a double dose of hazing, and without
parental au-
thority they decided to change the
initials from "H. U."
to "U. H.", thus relieving
the boy of that handicap.
Upon his arrival at West Point and
preparing to
matriculate, he wrote his new name, and
the commander
observing his signature informed him
that the creden-
tials from Washington gave his name as
"Ulysses Simp-
son Grant." When young Grant
demurred he was in-
formed that the only way his name could
be changed
was by special order from the War
Department, and so
it was that for the second time within
a few weeks he
had the unique experience of having his
name changed.
This latter change, I hope to
demonstrate, was prophetic
of the boy's future, if not
providential. In using these
new initials, "U. S.", I wish
to portray, if I may, the
characteristics he developed as he
approached and
reached his greatness - in a military
sense, at least.
166
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Naturally, it was not long until his
associates at
West Point, knowing his initials,
dubbed him, "Uncle
Sam Grant", and along with it,
"United States Grant."
Carrying the thought a little further,
I wish to present
in this little sketch this great man as
his character un-
folded, especially in connection with
his military career,
under the following heads:
"Unconditional Surrender";
"Unprofane Speech";
"Unusual Silence"; "Unaffected
Simplicity"; "Unparalleled
Samaritan"; "Unsurpassed
Sepulchre".
"Unconditional Surrender."
The first great victory for the
northern armies in
the period of the Civil War was the
capture of Fort
Henry and Fort Donelson, thus gaining
control to the
North of one of the great southern
rivers. On this
occasion the terms sent to General
Simon Bolivar
Buckner, by U. S. Grant,
Brigadier-General, then in
command of the besieging forces of the
North, included
this famous sentence - "No terms
except unconditional
and immediate surrender can be
accepted. I propose
to move immediately upon your
works."
Thereafter and until the end of his
days - and prob-
ably to the end of all history -
Geenral Grant has been
and will be known as
"Unconditional Surrender Grant."
"Unprofane Speech."
We are wont to associate with military
commanders
violent tempers and profanity under the
excitement of
battle. But General Grant has said of
himself in his
memoirs (not in any effort to present
himself as an
unco-good man, but in a way that
carries conviction),
speaking of his first acquaintance with
the Mexican
mule at the time when the forces of the
United States
Character Sketch of General Ulysses
S. Grant 167
had invaded Mexico, that the invading
forces were de-
pendent upon the Mexican mule for their
transporta-
tion and some of the drivers used
language at times of a
rather risque character and he then
said that while he
did not recollect that he had ever
used a profane word in
his life, he had no disposition to criticize the drivers
under the circumstances.
It is also related by General Horace
Porter that dur-
ing the battle of the Wilderness one
evening the staff of
General Grant had gathered in his tent
and an officer
with a reputation as a teller of
stories of rather an off-
color, looking around the room and
saying that there
were no ladies present, started to tell
a story the char-
acter, which, from his unsavory
reputation in that re-
spect was discounted to some extent,
whereupon General
Grant said to him, "No ladies
present, but there are
gentlemen here." General Porter
stated that the story
teller was effectively shut up - on
this occasion, at least.
"Unusual Silence."
General Grant has come down in history
bearing the
reputation of a man of unusual
silence. In fact, he
was known throughout the war as
"the silent man on
horseback." This quality, it was
thought, was inherited
from his mother, Hannah Simpson, of
whom it was
said that when she bade farewell to her
boy at Ripley,
where he was taking the boat for West
Point, via Pitts-
burgh, that she gave him a shake of the
hand and a kiss
upon the forehead, without a word
passing between
them - although the boy was to be gone
for a period of
two years.
168 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
"Utmost Serenity."
It is said of General Grant by General
Horace
Porter, with reference to the composure
and calmness
displayed by the great Captain, at the
battle of the Wil-
derness, where for the first time he
was meeting that
great southern commander, Robert E.
Lee, and where,
indeed, the very fate of the nation was
at stake, that
"during the most critical
movements, he manifested no
perceptible anxiety. He received news calculated to
create apprehension, and commanded and
gave orders
upon sudden emergencies without the
change of a
muscle in his face or the slightest
alteration of the tones
of his voice." This same serenity
was manifested by
this great man upon his death-bed.
There was found,
pinned to his night-robe, a letter
addressed to his wife
by the dying general while he was
undergoing unspeak-
able anguish; The letter was as
follows:
"Look after our dear children and
direct them in the paths
of rectitude. It would distress me far
more to think that any 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. With these few
injunctions and the knowledge I have of
your love and the duti-
ful affection of all our children, I bid
you a final farewell until
we meet in another, and I trust, a
better world."
I feel impelled to present this letter
to the American
people with the thought that it
illustrates in a most
beautiful way the devotion of this
great man to his
family; that it is an evidence of the
fact that the serenity
which sustained him on the field of
battle possessed his
soul when the last great moment came;
that this expres-
sion is worthy of study as an example
of pure and
beautiful English, especially when we
consider the cir-
Character Sketch of General Ulysses
S. Grant 169
cumstances under which it was written
and the further
fact that General Grant's early
education was by no
means more thorough than that of the
great Lincoln
himself.
"Unaffected Simplicity."
Appamatox Court House will always stand
out con-
spicuous, in American history. Here
Grant concluded
the terms of capitulation which ended
the most dreadful
fratricidal war in history. On this occasion General
Lee came to the meeting dressed in a
new suit of Con
federate gray, wearing at his side a
jeweled sword pre-
sented to him by the people of the
state of Virginia, and
riding his. famous war horse,
"Traveler." General
Grant came attired as a private
soldier, with the insignia
of his high rank pinned upon his
shoulder. He wore
an old slouch hat and the war horse
that he rode by no
means satisfied the eye as did that of
General Lee.
A noteworthy fact in connection with
the close of the
war was the circumstance that General
Grant did not
enter Richmond. History does not record
any parallel
conduct. There lay at his feet, conquered, the capital
of the Confederacy, that for four hard
years had re-
sisted the efforts of the North to
subdue it, and accord-
ing to custom, he should have entered
it at the head of
his army, with bands playing and colors
flying, but he
so despised the pomp, circumstance and
splendor of war
that he denied himself any such glory.
On that same occasion he heard in the
distance the
first of a salute of a hundred guns
being fired by the
artillery in honor of the great victory
he had accom-
plished, and when this sound reached
him he at once
170
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
sent his aide with orders to stop it,
saying, "Not a gun
-not a gun!"
"Unparalleled Samaritan."
I wish to present General Grant at
Appamatox in the
light of a Good Samaritan. It is to be remembered
that he was making terms with an army
that for the
whole period of the war had struggled
to destroy our
blessed government which we now enjoy,
and when
General Lee indicated that he and his
men were without
food, he ordered at once that rations
should be served
the entire Confederate force, and then
said to his ad-
versary, "General Lee, it is
springtime. Your men
will be in need of their horses for
plowing. Let them
go home and take with them their horses
and side arms,
and so long as they observe their
parole they may be
certain that they will be unmolested by
the United States
Government." And not one of them
was molested.
"Unsurpassed Sepulchre."
General Grant lies buried on Riverside
Drive, New
York City, overlooking the city in an
unsurpassed
sepulchre erected by the people of New
York City to
receive his body as a resting place
forevermore. Here
countless thousands of American people,
as well as
thousands of those of foreign birth,
annually pay their
tribute of respect to the honored dead.
This tomb bears
but one inscription, the words of the
dying General,
uttered with respect to his feelings
toward the South -
"Let us have peace."
These words are strikingly apropos of
the situation
that exists in the United States today,
happily not with
respect to the southern people, our
sectional differences
Character Sketch of General Ulysses S. Grant 171 with them having long since been settled, but with the broader world outlook. It would seem to have been a legacy left by the dying man to his fellow countrymen, into the possession of which we are just now coming. |
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CHARACTER SKETCH OF GENERAL ULYSSES
S.
GRANT
BY JUDGE HUGH L. NICHOLS,
Chairman of the U. S. Grant Memorial
Centenary Association.
My earlier life was spent at New
Richmond, Cler-
mont County, Ohio, on the banks of the
Ohio River, five
miles west of Point Pleasant, where
Ohio's greatest son
first saw the light of day.
As a youth I was greatly interestd in
General Grant,
always having regarded him - and it
would seem,
rightly- as Ohio's most famous citizen,
and since he
was unquestionably Clermont County's
greatest son I
have made some study, beginning in
those early days,
of his life.
In July, 1885, on the occasion of his
death, I chanced
to be Clermont County correspondent for
a Cincinnati
paper and following instructions went
about the county
and gathered items of information that
had, perhaps,
theretofore been unpublished, having to
do with his
early life. At that time I met an old
uncle of the
General, bearing the name of Samuel
Simpson, who, al-
though greatly advanced in years, had a
clear mind and
perfect recollection of the early days
of his distinguished
nephew. In fact, Samuel Simpson had
been an inmate
of the home of General Grant, being at
that period of
his life unmarried and remaining a
bachelor for many
years thereafter.
Among many interesting facts narrated
to me on
this occasion were some circumstances
relating to the
(163)