PERPSECTIVES: Oh, Rare,U.S. Grant

Oh Rare U. S. Grant: Reading Other People’s Mail Part 4

By James C. Johnston Jr.

There is no more underappreciated historical figure in our great national story than U. S. Grant who was our eighteenth president after rising to national prominence as Commander of the Army of the Potomac and victor over Lee and the man who won the Civil War. Grant was an individual of imagination who was open to possibilities of success where it may not have obviously existed to other commanders in the field.

For example, after one less-than-successful military encounter with Confederate forces, Grant ordered his army to press onward attacking the supposedly victorious foe. When one of Grant’s junior commanders stated that they had lost the engagement and should retreat, Grant replied that pressing onward was the better course, because their loss would not hold them back from an eventual victory.

It was that sort of thinking “out-side of the box” that gave Grant his great edge as a military commander and victories in the end. Grant always pushed onward through adversity. One of my own students, Alex Gagne, once said to me, “Think outside of the box, and then burn the box!” Now that was bloody brilliant, and I shall forever remember to graciously attribute Alex with full credit for this pithy observation that Grant would have embraced as his own credo.

I believe that Robert E. Lee was a competent commander, but he made a lot of tactical mistakes, had a a lot of good luck, and was fortunate to face a great many less-than-talented Union generals in the field before he met Grant in battle. Grant was something else. He was tough, tenacious, and very smart, and he saw possibilities where other very conservative commanders could see only defeat and a need to retreat. In the end, Grant hammered the Confederate armies into submission, and then, as Lincoln said, “Let them up easy.”

Robert E. Lee was a Southern aristocrat to his core, and he put his native State of Virginia and his Southern sympathies ahead of his oath as a serving officer in the United States Army to preserve and defend the Constitution of the United States. Lee made war on his own country to which he had sworn allegiance, and by doing so, he committed “Treason” as defined by that Constitution.

After the war was concluded in the spring of 1865, Grant remained with the army, and later he was appointed Secretary of War by President Johnson while Edwin Stanton fought his own removal from that same office by barricading himself in his former official office in the War Department. Stanton got his food by lowering a basket out of his office window and no doubt suffered many privations by refusing to vacate his office. Johnson was in turn punished under the new “Tenure in Office Act”, which was passed by the so-called “Radical-Republicans” in Congress. This act stated that Johnson could not fire any cabinet officer who had required Senate confirmation to ratify their appointment in the first place without Congressional consent.

When Johnson fired Stanton in contravention of The Tenure in Office Act, he was impeached. Among the results of this “Dust-Up” was the eventuality that Grant resigned as Secretary of War, Johnson was impeached and missed conviction by one vote in the Senate, and Grant just became more famous. In 1868, Grant was nominated for the presidency of the United States on the Republican ticket, and he won election that November.

Looking at Grant, one might think that this rumpled man, a bit under average height, with a beard and moustache of very average trim didn’t look like the leader of a democratic nation of growing importance in the world. When Grant commanded the Union forces, his shabby dress was frequently remarked upon. Grant wore dusty boots, baggy pants, a private’s jacket with his rank indicated by stars stitched on by his adjutant. When General Grant’s appearance was brought to Lincoln’s attention, no doubt our sixteenth president reflected on the splendor of the appearance of General George McClellan, who was-at best of times-a reluctant fighter, and Lincoln drawled, “Well at least Grant fights.” This was also Lincoln’s reaction to reports of Grant’s drinking.

After Grant had taken office in March of 1869, a Franklin man by the name of William Stickney and his boss, a Mr. Kendell, who happened to be visiting Washington, decided to go over to The Whitehouse to stroll the grounds and see if there was to be a band concert on that particular day in May of 1869. By now, the day was very bright and quite balmy, and salubrious weather almost invited the citizens and visitors to the capitol city to the grounds of the Executive Mansion. In those days, the Whitehouse and its grounds were treated a great deal like a public park where anyone could visit and enjoy whatever happened to be going on at the time. William Stickney wrote the following to his father, Amos Stickney, about his visit to the presidential mansion:

“Mr. Kendall and I rode to the President’s grounds last Saturday to hear the music. A large number of persons were present. Seeing General Grant sitting upon the balcony smoking an immense plug of a cigar, all alone, I proposed to Mr. Kendall that we should pay our respects. After a little hesitation, he went up with me. I introduced myself and then Mr. Kendall. Grant kept on puffing and asked Mr. K. to take a chair. After taking a look over the grounds and a few more puffs, he asked me to take a chair. He then turned his face towards the grounds, large volumes of smoke in the meantime issuing from his cigar. Mr. Kendall tried hard to get him into conversation.”

The letter continues, “But it was evident that there was no conversation in him. I never saw a more common face upon anybody who professed to be anybody. No cheerfulness or animation, no sign of mental power, anything to indicate that he had two ideas in his life. Some ladies coming up, we took the opportunity to leave and as we got out of his hearing, Mr. K. holding out his little finger said, “He is not THAT to General Jackson”; and at the same time uttering the prayer, “God save this Commonwealth.” Grant disappointed me. His pictures look much better than he does. He has been boosted to his present high elevation by politicians and evidently feels very foolish about it. He is not at home [in the presidency] and finds it difficult to make himself so.”

Stickney writs on, “He [Grant] smoked three immense cigars while we were there that afternoon. We found him in a cloud and left him in one. Smoking will do in its place, but that [the Whitehouse and its grounds] was not the place or the occasion. Hundreds of ladies and gentlemen were walking about giving him a bow, which he always recognized and returned never removing the cigar!”

This closely written four-page letter has much more to relate about Washington, but the portion I selected to share with you had begun to reflect a certain popular opinion of Grant, among the more sophisticated critics of his administration, which was only a little over two-and-a-half months old at the time of Stickney’s visit. Later on Grant’s two terms in office would be tainted by the Credit Mobiler and other scandals involving leading Republican lights like the Ames Family of Easton, Massachusetts in connection with railroad land grabs which led to huge financial rewards.

Grant himself was an honorable man, but he was clearly out of his depth in many aspects of his high office. Mr. Stickney and Mr. Kendall no doubt sensed this during their short visit with the Eighteenth President of the United States. One thing is for certain, Grant never grew rich from any form of corruption resulting from his time in office, but others around him did very well. People who profited mightily from corrupt practices and even involved Grant’s brother Fred in their machinations in order to get some cover.

I was told many years ago that a certain prominent family in an Eastern Massachusetts town paid that town a substantial amount of money for many years not to teach about the Credit Mobiler Scandal as part of the post-Civil War Period in the United States History classes of that town. I also understand that those payments haven’t been made for a while.

Not long before his death, Grant decided that due to his severely reduced financial circumstances, he would have to provide for his family by writing his autobiography in order to raise funds to support his family after his impending demise. In spite of the fact that he was being devoured by cancer, Grant soldiered on to write what was perhaps the best autobiography ever penned by any American in any age. The income from that effort provided Mrs. Grant with a decent income for life after General Grant’s death at age 63. The two volume first edition of this autobiographical work holds a pride of place in my library and collection of Americana, and it is still a great read.

One more thing now comes to mind as an illustration of Grant’s ability to look ahead and fend off trouble. When Grant went off to the military academy at West Point, he took note of his trunk that his father had just made for him to carry his clothing and other possessions off to the Academy in. His initials were beautifully set out in an oval created by bright shiny brass tacks nailed onto the burnished leather surface of the lid. They read “H. U. G.” for his name Hyrum Ulysses Grant. But what Grant saw, on this new inspection, was “HUG”. He knew that for the next four years he did not want his classmates to nickname him “HUG”.

During the conclusion of his trip East, Grant changed his name, and the arrangement of the brass tacks, to reflect the new moniker he had selected for himself. He dropped the “Hyrum”, as a first name which he never liked anyway, and substituted his middle name “Ulysses “ as his new and more suitable first name. He also selected a new middle name for himself, “Simpson”. Now his initials were a very nice and patriotic “U. S. G.” for Ulysses S. Grant.

James C. Johnston, a retired Franklin educator, is a frequent contributor to Franklin Observer

IMAGE:Constant Mayer's portrait of General Grant, 1866