Evening Star Newspaper, April 27, 1924, Page 71

| FICTION “ — MAGAZINE SECTION Part 5—8 Pages The Sunday Stae [ rearvres | WASHINGTON, D. « SUNDAY MORNING, APRIL 27, 1924, Birthday Anniversary of Grant, Military Genius, Is Observed Toda—y BY LUCRETIA E. HEMINGTON, ! GENLOS for co dogged perse in th e, a per ! the enc- my to an inimitable isn made Ap- hat is caugh to Ulyss 1 in the Botanic Garden head of the Mall, under the shadow of the dome of the face of appare sistence that surrende magnanimity pomattox ot to lity qualitics memor ar irresistible for a nt, to at the very union in nz 9 and deter- perbly as he Potornac. The set of the rs is the openipg line in the magnificent bronze epic. One hears in fancy and far away the sound of the hu mells the battle sm wnd suddenly one sees Vronze ups, pulsir rin into action, multuou With flashing in the sun, the plunges forward on the Jeft, W firld battery is whevied into position on the right. The horses plu na r, the banners tu, the wind, ind passionate for viete and for are the straining it m obs looks out a horse's e Union rward, ate cour- through the weary waiting that dashing, glo: sionary wful confu; vas the W \ppomattox nate, inevitable our country’s lentless guardianship, neath the paws of scrouped about the cen: What does history rev whe mastery ong and re- and it lies be- tic lions 1 figure. man, agzainst a great ge Tnion? Ulysses April 27, 1822, What 1 his name had been Ifira until his appointment to | when the nominating wtor had | changed it to i accepted | rm? The 4 { briquet to bo besto § i t Point, men under arm: conditional Surrender Grant, v the request of the Confederate eral at Donelson for the te render he replied in his laconic, un-| yielding fashion: “Unconditional sur- render.” The years W to behold him dictating other term sur- -ender, tha last of which was to re- | veal the Warm humanity of the man, nis mercy and his charity ROUGHOUT hi TH r there is little of attract attention or paths his feet we there is the evidenc superstition that whose power weld ther. Grant confe ssed by a queer x % ¥ hoyhood | ual to | icate the | follow: but nelief or| . habit | nation to- ed that wWas idea that what- ilete; that ation he never | to to of a ed evor he began he mu: if he started out for a must up the thing he t object directly, he must n t turn back to reach it, he must reach it by forward set out to reach s - and ed beyond it, he bac but must con- upon a road piace from It he unknowing n not turn tinue on until he ding the other side. furnishes v similar Daniel Webster had the trait of always letting some one else make the momentous decisions of his life for him, and became a better fol- lower than leader. Alexander Hamil- the unvarying charac- teristic of relentless s until he L perhaps the greatest con- stru thinker that America has produced. Albert Gallatin was domi- nated by an almost perfect self-con- trol that gave him his mastery over situations and men. One could fur- nish innumerable instances of other men whose destinies seemed Ly some marked charactere istic or trait or habit, in itself of \varying value, but in its peculiar combination with certain qualities serving as the exponent of an individ- ual's power. Grant's determination to finish what he had begun might have driven him into a humdrum existence if circum- stances had not in the usual whim- sical fashion stepped in and used his obsession in a far-flung, nation- molding manner. When Grant #lace at West I’ fearful that I amjnation %o, but hi ame into desired graphy instances ton possessed ame father had sceured a t for him, the boy ould not p: the ex- said that he would not father replied that he thought he would, and Grant found it convenient to agree with that deci- sion, although he had no taste for a military life. There came to his aid the determination to complete, with success, the thing he had undertaken, and he passed the examinations more easily than he had anticipated doing. All the boys that had in previous years been appointed from his district had been graduated from the military school, and he, Grant, must not bring :iny discredit upon his home town. So, although he made the mental reserva- tion that, after graduation, he would not follow a military career, he put nhis shoulder to the wheel and decided to complete the course. ‘ He found the time heavy upon his hands, for he was not given to study, never reading over any lesson twice if he could possibly avoid it. Conse- quently he found himself never at the Tead or the foot of any cl He did fairly well in French, artillery, infan- try and cavalry tactics and conduct, however. Upon graduation he stood twenty-first ffom the top in a class of thirty-nine. He remarked that if ho could have turned the class end for end he would have been closer to the place of homor! * X X ¥ [ tuis particular. there was astrong contrast with Robert E. Lee, against whom he was to match his kill in titanic grapplings and win out over superior Eeneralship by the cxercise of that dogged determination to finish the thing he had begun al about this : e untiring, dri B | | | | | Success of Union General in Civil War Arose Primarily From Lifelong Characteristic of Following to Completion Everything That He Ever Undertook and Unvarying Purpose to Move Directly Toward an Objective—Bronze Figure for Botanic Gardens Memorial Represents Embodi- ment of Commanding Qualities of Army Leader—How He Faced the Perfect Generalship of Lee in Great Struggle. Plaster#odel of the Grant Memorial® @ * * * he proposed to fight it out on this line if it took all summer * ¢ * and that ‘line led to.the capture of Richmond, the capital of the Confed- eracy. Lee was the .exact, careful student, - whose lamp burned .late over his studies, for he was determined to finish his course at West Point with as high honor as he was capable of achieving. In his class he stood sec- ond. If West Point had revealed a marked contrast between these two whom destiny ‘had chosen for ‘0ppos- ing roles in a great drama that was to bring' sorrow ‘and devastation and death to vast numbers, that was to retard the progress of the country for a half century, the Mexican war, that training camp for the . terrific struggle of the civil war (the list of the men who fought under Gen. Scott in Mexico includes the names of Beauregard, McCellan, Kearney, Pemberton, Meade, as well as Lee and Grant), revealed Grant as a lieutenant and Lee a colonel and the chief of staff, and incidentally the apple of Scott's military eye. Indeed, as Scott rode in triumph into the captured city of Mexico Col. Robert E. Lee rode at his side. But, if the whimsical fates had de- cided. that it was to be Lee and Grant in Mexico, the same fates had determined that it should be Grant and Lee at Appomattox. True to his determination to give up Army life, Grant resigned from the Army in 1854, and tried his hand at farming, but he lacked means to stock his farm and sold everything at auction in 1858. He then tried a real estate agency, but failed in that endeavor. In 1860 he entered his father's leather and hardware store in Galena, IIl, where his meager earnings barely supported hiz wife and children. ‘When :the secession of some of the sonthern states and the attack on Fort Sumter had become facts, Pres- ident Lincoln issued his call for troops. Grant proffered his services, but to his letter of application there was no reply. When Lincoln made has second call for troops Grant was appointed colonel of an Ilfinois regi- ment. . Grant says that” when ' he’ first approached what he “thought would be a field' of battle- his féelings were anything “but - agreeable. - He had been under fire often, but never had he had a position of command be- fore. How polgnant the contrast with his cool intrepidity when, in the battle of Belmont, he entered an Army transport -on the ~Mississippi, threw himself down upon a couch in the captain’s room, almost im- mediately got.up and went on deck, just as a musket. ball entered the head of the couch and lodged in the foot of it. Grant seemed quite un- moved by the ingident. * ¥ ¥ % HEN President Lincoln realized that the contest between the north and south must be settled by a resort to’ arms, he summoned Gen. Scott, the aged commander of the armies of the United States, and asked him whom he considered best fitted for the high command. With- out hesitation, he recommended Rob- ert E. Lee. The President made known. this decision to Lee, but two days after Lincoln's call for troops, Virginia withdrew from the Union, and Lee, after.a mighty. struggle with himself, decided that he could never draw the sword against Virginia, the home of his family, one of the first of that proud! state, and so resigned to become commander of the Vir- ginia troops, then later, general of the Confederate army in that state. President Davis deliyed recogni- tion of Lee's great ability, but strong public sentiment in the last year.of the war compelled him to make Lee 3 Like b4 chief of the Confderate forces in the field. It was the courtesy of the Lee family that made its most dis- tinguished member ever deferential to_his President. Lee was not only a genius; he was a gentleman, and a man of spotiers purity of character. ,w‘ L ‘ = “ rdless figure, grim and determned ” Horses p]unge and He held the esteem and worship of the South, but he commanded the esteem of the North as well. Grant acknowledged that he had learned much from the tactics of his oppo- nent, Lee. Moreover, Grant greatly admired Lee. It is no mean advantage onze Fiqures ledping mto v action to have a foeman worthy of ome's steel. While the Union forces under Mec- Dowell lost the battle of Bull Run; while the same army under Mc- Clellan failed to take Richmond in the Peninsular campsign, as it might Te S P efield. artillery 13 wheeled. mto position well have done after Malvern Hill if McClellan had dared to follow up his victory (he was a matchless master in drilling and organizing troops and in carrying on a defensive war); Grant had instituted his west- ern campaign under Gen Halleck, and he won a name and fame for himself and Sherman in the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson and in the victory at Shiloh, one of the hardest fought battles of the war and the scene of the loss of one of the greatest of southern generals, Gen. Albert . Johnston. At the same time gunboats on the Mississippl had opened that river down to Vicksburg, while Capt. Farrasut had opened the river from its mouth to Port Hudson, leaving only a land bridge of 150 miles in the possession of the south, across which supplies poured in from the and Sherman planned to capture Vicksburg and end that source of supply. This plan resulted in the only long siege of the war, for Vicksburg under Pemberton held out for six months under a terrific bombardment from the mortars of Grant's forces, untll, after Living upon the last resources of a besieged city, the starving garri- son ssurrendered the day after the great victory of Gen. Meade over Lee at Gettysburg. The tide had indeed turned with these two great victories. The cause of the south was lost, and Grant's star was at last in the ascendant, for he was made commander of the |less in its fixed p it | brousht | m | biunder | ene nour, armies of the west and began his campaign around Chattanooga against Bragg and Johnston. So successfn! was he that Congress voted to conf upon him the rank of lieutenant gen- eral (never held by any officer in the Army up to that time with the excep- tion of Gen. Washington). This placed him in command of zll the armies of the Tnion forces, and hn was known from that time general of the rant loved Sherman with evotion, and he made him com mander of the Army of the West Grant transferred his headquarters to the Army of the Potomac. UT of the dual of Get- tysburg and Vicksburg had come a plan of campaign, with the Union generals their forces like in Iy played game to bring the within no more advantage or advance vietories hieces bitter struggle to a close year's time. W Union commanders gain and fail to follow it up Lee to sec | only to retreat, as had the Army of the Gens under the success Burnside, and to face a grim d grown relent- to finish what Potomac MeClelian he Fope, Hooker, but dete: ion t b .“[\ was had begun So while Gen. Joseph E. Johnston attling futily against Gen Sherman, whose methods pleased Grant zreatly, from Chattancoga Atlanta, and from Atlanta to the e a ru iple-making de- truction roperty and suppltes Grant initiated his Wilderness cam paign against Lee Of all the fields of battle dari the war, that of the Wilderness wus the most deadly, the most bewilder- ing to both sides, for the heavy growth of timber made advance di ficult, obstructed all view and ntold suffering to the men falling, burning trees h Harbor Lee's Grant was e of from on fir At the set cald intrenched ke a great 609 men cked all aloms front simu fai to mass the enemy capture or destroy them flanking movement. But that was not all they saw, for Grant ordered his men into the next fight, and o on, and ever on through forty days until he led hiy enthusiastically cheeriug men out of the Wilderness and on Peters burg and Richmond, in spita of a losy of 35,00 a force equal to Lee's whole Such a man could not be defeated. It was a Dew experi- ence for the ardent veteruns of the Confederacy Ther: about a silent 1 en that in * he th whole taneousiy, and with a terrible men rmy. is something tremendous der who never re ogmnizes repulsa or defeat, but who moves on like a force of destiny, knowing that somewhere, some time, victory awaits him. It i3 for him to seek and to find, ever to move fo: d, ever to complete tha thing he has determined to do. And his men caught his spirit and moved on with him, the whole Army caught up in that winged state of cheering enthusiasm that makes it irresistibls —a kind of Cromwell's singing army whom nothing could defeat— tha spirit singing even the face of privation, suffering, death—a spirit akin to religious fervor—just men following a leader whom they loved, even' as Napoleon's men caught his marvelous enthusiasm and followed him to victory on a score of famous flelds. The north. too, at last was solidly behind its fighting forces: the bank- ers were pouring out streams of money in support of the cause, and fokeign countries had oceased to aid or encourage the south. All thess things fired the men with a new zeal a new strength, and the change was electrical—all felt it. all were deeply stirred by it. somehow, in After Richmond Lee withdrew hiy dwindling forces toward the mount. ains, but Grant never let him rest das or night, while he endeavored to cut Off his advance with Sheridan's dash ing cavalry. Gen. Lee had fought : gallant fight with almost flawless tac- tics and generalship, but he was with- out men or supplies, and his trains of provisions had been cut off from him. He cowd not advanee and he could not retreat, 5o in reply to a nots from Gen. Grant, proposing a parlex on terms of surrender, he agreed to consider what the Union commander would lay before him. * & x % SO Grant went to Lee at Appomat- Court Heuse, finding him in the home of a Mr. McLean. Grant had on a soldier's blouse for a coat writh shoulder straps of his rank. He was, as was customary with him while on horseback in the field, without a sword. Lee was, by marked contrast, in full uniform, entirely new, wearing the priceless sword presesnted to him by the state of Virginia FEach man had his staff with him. Victor and vanquished greeted each other as they shook hands, and then sat down and conversed at some length upon every subject except the war. Lee's face gave not the slightest indication of his feelings, such was his perfect self-control. It was Lee who first mentioned the momeatous purpose of the parley, and he asked Gen. Grant what terms of surrender he would offer. Gen. Grant says in his west to the southern states, Grant!memoirs that he had not thought in words of definite terms and that when he put his pen to the paper hé did not know what he would write thereon. Lee put on his glasses, read the written pages, and after a littlo dis- cussion regarding the retention of their horses by the men in the ranks (Grant agreeing to this because they would need them for their spring plowing) accepted the terms. Only one signature was placed below the terms, and that was the writer’s. Lee wrote a letter of acceptance, signed it, and handed it to Gen Grant. The dramatic incident, told in Drinkwater’s “Abraham Lincoln” and T (Continued on Third Page)