FmNHOT LEAVE THE LIBRARY. 
 
 Chap. " 
 
 Shelp.. 
 
 ^6,72. 
 
 
 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 
 
 pi^ V' u^^*'^'*' °'^ CONGRESS. ^ 
 
GENERAL GRANT'S 
 
 ^.etters 
 
 TO A FRIEND 
 
 861-1880 
 
 With IntroduSiion and Notes by 
 JAMES GRANT WILSON 
 
 Juthor of ''Life of Grant;' 
 " Sketches of Illustrious Soldiers,'' 
 " Bryant and his Friends," etc. 
 
 T. Y. CROWELL & COMPANY 
 
 Bern Pork anU Boston 
 
 MDCCCXCVII 
 
 c v- ^ — 
 
 Tiyo COPfEs RECEIVED 
 to Co"^ f 
 
Copyright, 1897, by Thomas Y. Crmuell & Company 
 
 •Giles 
 
Dedicated by the Editor 
 
 to 
 
 e0r. DcmpstcaD CSlasfjburne 
 
 to whose courtesy 
 
 the possessors of this Volume 
 
 are indebted for the privilege of reading 
 
 the Letters addressed to his Father 
 
 by 
 
 General Grant 
 
31ntrot)uction 
 
 PERHAPS no other person not connected 
 with the military service contributed in 
 so great a degree to General Grant's suc- 
 cess in the American Civil War of 1861-1865, 
 as the Hon. Elihu B. Washburne, to whom the 
 I following forty-eight letters and parts of let- 
 I ters were addressed, during a period of nineteen 
 I years. Beginning in the first year of the war 
 the correspondence was continued uninter- 
 ruptedly until after the close of Grant's second 
 ! administration and his return from the ex- 
 ' tended tour around the world. The letters are 
 j certainly of no inconsiderable historical value, 
 I being dated in many instances from such fa- 
 mous battle-fields as Fort Donelson, Shiloh, 
 Vicksburg, Chattanooga, and the Wilderness, 
 and revealing in an interesting manner many 
 of the strongest and most admirable traits of 
 General Grant's chara£ler. These private com- 
 munications contain his views upon men and 
 affairs in the western hemisphere, as well as in 
 many of the foreign lands which he visited. His 
 
 \ 11 
 
comments upon the charader and result of 
 British rule in India, and upon the progressive 
 spirit of the Japanese, will be perused with spe- 
 cial interest. 
 
 All but three of the letters contained in this 
 colledion are of a stridly personal charader, 
 the exceptions being Grant's official communi- 
 cations of January 23, 1862, November 13, 
 1863, and July 19, 1864, addressed to Mr. 
 Washburne, Secretary Stanton, and President 
 Lincoln. These were found among the Gen- 
 eral's two score and seven private letters. A por- 
 tion of these, relating to the war, appeared in 
 the Life of Grant (Great Commanders Series), 
 while some of the others were published in the 
 numbers of the North American Review, for 
 July and August, 1897. 
 
 Elihu Benjamin Washburne (18 16- 188 7) was 
 a member of Congress from Illinois, where 
 (Galena) at the commencement of the war, 
 Grant was employed as a cleric. The two men 
 first met at that time : they immediately be- 
 came friends, and during the four years' conflict 
 Washburne was the constant supporter and 
 sturdy defender, in Congress and elsewhere, of 
 the silent commander, who would never vindi- 
 
 vui 
 
cate himself from the shameful charges that 
 were constantly brought both against his pri- 
 vate character, and also against his condudl as a 
 soldier. When in 1869 Grant became President 
 of the United States, he appointed Mr. Wash- 
 burne his Secretary of State, who after occupy- 
 ing that high office for a few weeks was sent 
 as the American representative to France. He 
 filled that position with pre-eminent ability, 
 courage and distinction, publishing after his re- 
 turn to Illinois "Recollections of a Minister 
 to France, 1869- 187 7," a very \'aluable illus- 
 trated work in two o(^tavo volumes. 
 "The supremacy of Grant among American 
 soldiers is secure," said General Sherman to the 
 writer, at their last meeting, a few weeks be- 
 fore his death. Whatever judgment history may 
 ultimately pass upon Grant, it may be safely 
 predicted that among Americans, Washington 
 and Lincoln alone will be placed above him. 
 Gladstone, in a letter dated July, 1897, refer- 
 ring to a comparison drawn by the editor, be- 
 tween Washington and Grant, says, " America 
 is a happy country if she can produce even a 
 few men worthy to be named as approaching to 
 the excellence of Washington." 
 
 IX 
 
One comfort is that great men taken up 
 in any way are profitable company. We 
 cannot look^ however imperfectly^ upon a 
 great man without gaining something 
 by it. He is the living fountain of life 
 which it is pleasant to be near. On any 
 terms whatsoever you will not grudge to 
 wander in his neighborhood for a while. 
 
 THOMAS CARLYLE. 
 
GENERAL GRAM'S LETTERS 
 
ILctter I 
 
 Cairo^ Illinois^ 
 September 3, 1 86 1. 
 
 YOUR very kind letter was received at 
 Jefferson City, and would have been 
 answered at once but for the remark 
 that you were about to start for New York 
 city and would not receive it for some days. 
 I should be most pleased to have you pay me 
 the visit here, or wherever I may be, that you 
 spoke of paying me there. 
 In regard to the appointment of Mr. Rawlins,' 
 I never had an idea of withdrawing it so long 
 as he felt disposed to accept, no matter how 
 long his absence. Air. Rawlins was the first 
 one I decided upon for a place with me, and 
 I very much regret that family affliction has 
 kept him away so long. The past would have 
 been a good school of instruction for him in 
 his new duties; the future bids fair to try the 
 backbone of our volunteers. I have been kept 
 actively moving from one command to another, 
 more so perhaps than any other officer. So long 
 
as I am of service to the cause of our country 
 I do not obje6l, however. 
 General Fremont has seen fit to intrust me 
 with an important command here, my com- 
 mand embracing all the troops in southeast 
 Missouri and at this place. A little difficulty 
 of an unpleasant nature has occurred between 
 General Prentiss and myself relative to rank, 
 he refusing to obey my orders ; but it is to be 
 hoped that he will see his error, and not sacri- 
 fice the interest of the cause to his ambition 
 to be senior brigadier general of Illinois, as he 
 contends he is. 
 
 In conclusion, Mr. Washburne, allow me to 
 thank you for the part you have taken in giv- 
 ing me my present position. I think I see your 
 hand in it, and admit that I had no personal 
 claims for your kind office in the matter. I 
 can assure you, however, my whole heart is 
 in the cause which we are fighting for, and I 
 pledge myself that, if equal to the task before 
 me, you shall never have cause to regret the 
 part you have taken. 
 
3letter u 
 
 Head-Barters Dhtri£i of Ca'iro^ 
 Ca'iro^ January 23, 1 862. 
 
 THE bearer, Captain A. S. Baxter/ who 
 goes to Washington by my order, in 
 hopes of doing something for the relief 
 of this much distressed portion of our Army, is 
 at present my District Quartermaster. 
 I am at last satisfied that I have an efficient 
 and faithful servant of the Government in 
 Captain Baxter, and anything that you can do 
 to further the object of his mission will not 
 only be regarded as a personal favor to myself, 
 but will serve to advance the cause you and I 
 both have so much at heart. 
 Captain Baxter can tell you of the great abuses 
 in his Department here and the efforts I have 
 put forth to correct them, and consequently the 
 number of secret enemies necessarily made. I am 
 desirous of retaining Captain Baxter in his pres- 
 ent position, and if promotion to a higher grade 
 is necessary to enable me to do so, I would very 
 much desire that the promotion be given. 
 
itetter tit 
 
 Fort T>onelson^ Tennessee^ 
 February 21, 1862. 
 
 INCE receiving your letter at Fort 
 Henry events have transpired so rapidly 
 that I have scarcely had time to write 
 a private letter. That portion of your letter 
 which required immediate attention was re- 
 plied to as soon as your letter was read. I mean 
 that I telegraphed Colonel C. C. Washburn,3 
 Milwaukee, Wis., asking him to accept a place 
 on my staff. As he has not yet arrived, I fear 
 my dispatch was not received. Will you be 
 kind enough to say to him that such a dispatch 
 was sent, and that I will be most happy to 
 publish the order the moment he arrives, as- 
 signing him the position you ask. 
 On the 13th, 14th, and 15th our volunteers 
 fought a battle that would figure well with 
 many of those fought in Europe, where large 
 standing armies are maintained. I feel very 
 grateful to you for having placed me in the 
 position to have had the honor of commanding 
 
such an armv and at such a time. I onlv trust 
 that I have not nor will not disappoint you. 
 The effedt upon the community here is very 
 marked since the battle. Defeat, disastrous de- 
 feat, is admitted. Yesterday I went to Clarlces- 
 ville* with a small escort, two of our gunboats 
 having preceded me. Our forces now occupy 
 that place, and will take possession of a large 
 amount of commissary stores, ammunition, and 
 some artillcrv. The road to Nashville is now 
 clear, but whether my destination will be there 
 or farther west can't vet be told. I want to 
 move earlv, and no doubt will. 
 
iletter it) 
 
 Savannah^ Tennessee^ 
 March 22, 1862. 
 
 TT HAVE received two or three letters from 
 you which I have not answered, because 
 Li at the time they were received I was un- 
 well and busy, and either your brother or Row- 
 ley were about writing. I am now getting 
 nearly well and ready for any emergency that 
 may arise. A severe contest may be looked for 
 in this quarter before many weeks, but of the 
 result feel no alarm. 
 
 There are some things which I wish to say to 
 you in my own vindication, not that I care one 
 straw for what is said individually, but because 
 you have taken so much interest in my welfare 
 that I think you are fairly entitled to all fa(Sts 
 connected with my a6ls. 
 I see by the papers that I am charged with giv- 
 ing up a certain number of slaves captured at 
 Fort Donelson. My published order on the 
 occasion shows that citizens were not per- 
 mitted to pass through our camps to look for 
 
their slaves. There were some six or seven ne- 
 groes at Donelson, who represented that they 
 had been brought from Kentucky to work for 
 officers, and had been kept a number of months 
 without receiving pay. They expressed great 
 anxiety to get back to their famih'es, and pro- 
 tested that they were free men. These I let ctq^ 
 and none others. I have studiously tried to 
 prevent the running ofF of negroes from all 
 outside places, as I have tried to prevent all 
 other marauding and plunderintr. 
 So long as I hold a commission in the armv I 
 have no views of my own to carry out. What- 
 ever may be the orders of my superiors and 
 law I will execute. No man can be efficient as 
 a commander who sets his own notions above 
 law and those whom he has sworn to obey. 
 When Congress enads anything too odious for 
 me to execute, I will resign. 
 I see the credit of attacking the enemy by the 
 way of the Tennessee and Cumberland is va- 
 riously attributed. It is little to talk about it 
 being the great wisdom of any general that 
 first brought forth this plan of attack. Our gun- 
 boats were running up the Tennessee and 
 Cumberland Rivers all fall and winter watch- 
 
ing the progress of the rebels on these works. 
 General Halleck no doubt thought of this 
 route long ago, and I am sure I did. As to 
 how the battles should be fought, both Mc- 
 Clellan and Halleck are too much of soldiers to 
 suppose that they can plan how that should be 
 done at a distance. This would presuppose that 
 the enemy would make just the moves laid 
 down for them. It would be a game of chess, 
 the right hand against the left, determining 
 beforehand that the right should win. The job 
 being an important one, neither of the above 
 generals would have intrusted it to an officer 
 whom they had not confidence in. So far I was 
 highly complimented by both. 
 After getting into Donelson General Halleck 
 did not hear from me for near two weeks. It 
 was about the same time before I heard from 
 him. I was writing every day, and sometimes 
 as often as three times a day. Reported every 
 move and change, the condition of my troops, 
 etc. Not getting these. General Halleck very 
 justly became dissatisfied, and was, as I have 
 since learned, sending me daily reprimands. 
 Not receiving them, they lost their sting. 
 When one did reach me, not seeing the justice 
 
 8 
 
of it, I retorted, and asked to be relieved. Three 
 telegrams passed in this way, each time ending 
 by my requesting to be relieved. All is now un- 
 derstood, however, and I feel assured that Gen- 
 eral Halleck is fully satisfied. In hS:^ he wrote 
 me a letter saying that I could not be relieved, 
 and otherwise quite complimentary. 
 I will not tire you with a longer letter, but as- 
 sure you again that you shall not be disappointed 
 in me if it is in my power to prevent it. 
 
JLetter M 
 
 Camp near Corinth^ Mississippi^ 
 May 14, 1862. 
 
 THE great number of attacks made up- 
 on me by the press of the country is 
 my apology for not writing to you 
 oftener, not desiring to give any contradiction 
 to them myself. You have interested yourself 
 so much as my friend that should I say any- 
 thing it would probably be made use of in my 
 behalf. I would scorn being my own defender 
 against such attacks except through the record 
 which has been kept of all my official ads, and 
 which can be examined at Washington at any 
 time. To say that I have not been distressed 
 at these attacks upon me would be false, for I 
 have a father, mother, wife, and children who 
 read them, and are distressed by them, and I 
 necessarily share with them in it. Then, too, 
 all subject to my orders read these charges, 
 and it is calculated to weaken their confidence 
 in me and weaken my ability to render effi- 
 cient service in our present cause.5 One thing 
 
 10 
 
I will assure you of, however, — I can not be 
 driven from rendering the best service within 
 my abiHty to suppress the present rebelHon, 
 and, when it is over, retiring to the same quiet 
 it, the rebellion, found me enjoying. Notoriety 
 has no charms for mc, and could I render the 
 same services that I hope it has been my for- 
 tune to render our just cause without being 
 known in the matter, it would be infinitely 
 preferable to me. 
 
 Those people who expect a field of battle to 
 be maintained for a whole day with about thirty 
 thousand troops, most of them entirely raw, 
 against fifty thousand, as was the case at Pitts- 
 burg Landing while waiting for re-enforce- 
 ments to come up, without loss of life, know 
 little of war. To have left the field of Pitts- 
 burg for the enemy to occupy until our force 
 was sufficient to have gained a bloodless vi6lory 
 would have been to leave the Tennessee to be- 
 come a second Potomac. There was nothing 
 left for me but to occupy the west bank of the 
 Tennessee and to hold it at all hazards. It 
 would have set this war back six months to 
 have failed, and would have caused the neces- 
 sity of raising, as it were, a new army. 
 
 II 
 
Looking back at the past, I can not see for the 
 life of me any important point that could be 
 corrected. Many persons who have visited the 
 different fields of battle may have gone away 
 displeased because they were not permitted to 
 carry off horses, fire arms, or other valuables 
 as trophies. But they are no patriots who would 
 base their enmity on such grounds. Such, I 
 assure you, are the grounds of many bitter 
 words that have been said against me by per- 
 sons who at this day would not know me by 
 sight, yet profess to speak from a personal 
 acquaintance. 
 
 I am sorry to write such a letter, infinitely 
 sorry that there should be grounds for it. My 
 own justification does not demand it, but you 
 are entitled to know my feelings. As a friend I 
 would be pleased to give you a record weekly 
 at furthest of all that transpires in that portion 
 of the army that I am or may be connected 
 with, but not to make public use of. . . . 
 
 12 
 
Jlctter t)t 
 
 Camp near Corinth^ Mississippi^ 
 June I, 1862. 
 
 T7NCLOSED I send a letter addressed to 
 the Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of 
 i-i War, which I would be pleased if you 
 would cause to be delivered with any recom- 
 mendation that you may deem proper. Lieu- 
 tant Diclcey is the son of Col. Dickey of the 
 Fourth Illinois Cavalry, and brother-in-law of 
 the late General W. H. L. Wallace, who fell 
 at the battle of Shiloh. Although Lieutenant 
 Diclcey has served under my command almost 
 from his first entrance into service, I can not 
 answer from personal knowledge as to his 
 qualifications; but General Judah, who recom- 
 mends him, is an experienced officer, and fully 
 qualified to judge of his merits. 
 The siege of Corinth has at last terminated. 
 On Friday morning it was found that the last 
 rebel had left during the preceding night. On 
 entering the enemy's intrenchments, it was dis- 
 coveied that they had succeeded in taking off 
 
 13 
 
or destroying nearly everything of value. Gen- 
 eral Pope is now in full pursuit of the retreat- 
 ing foe, and I think will succeed in capturing 
 and dispersing many of them. There will be 
 much unjust criticism of this affair, but future 
 efFei^s will prove it a great victory. Not being 
 in command, however, I will not give a his- 
 tory of the battle in advance of official reports. 
 I leave here in a day or two for Covington, 
 Ky., on a short leave of absence. I may write 
 you again from there if I do not visit Wash- 
 ington in person. 
 
 H 
 
JLctter t)u 
 
 Corinth^ Mississippi^ 
 June 19, 1862. 
 
 YOUR letter of the 8th inst., addressed 
 to me at Covington, Ky., has just 
 reached me. At the time the one was 
 written to which it is an answer I had leave to 
 go home or to Covington, but General Halleclc 
 requested me to remain for a few days. After- 
 ward when I spoke of going he asked that I 
 should remain a little longer if my business was 
 not of pressing importance. As I really had 
 no business, and had not asked leave on such 
 grounds, I told him so, and that if my services 
 were required I would not go at all. This 
 settled my leave for the present, and for the 
 war. So long as my services are required I do not 
 wish to leave. I am exceedingly oMiged to you 
 for the interest you have taken in the appoint- 
 ment recommended by me, and also for the as- 
 surance that the Secretary of War receives it 
 with such favor. I will endeavor never to make 
 a recommendation unsafe to accede to. 
 
I shall leave here on the 2ist for Memphis, 
 where my headquarters will be located for the 
 time being. Western Tennessee is fast being 
 reduced to working order, and I think, with 
 the introduction of the mails, trade, and the 
 assurance that we can hold it, it will become 
 loyal or, at least, law-abiding. It will not do, 
 however, for our arms to meet with any great 
 reverse and still expe(5l this result. The masses 
 this day are more disloyal in the South from 
 fear of what might befall them in case of defeat 
 to the Union cause than from any dislike to the 
 Government. One week to them (after giving 
 in their adhesion to our laws) would be worse 
 under the so-called Confederate Government 
 than a year of martial law administered by this 
 army. It is hard to say what would be the most 
 wise policy to pursue toward these people, but 
 for a soldier his duties are plain. He is to obey 
 the orders of all those placed over him, and whip 
 the enemy wherever he meets him. " If he can " 
 should only be thought of after an unavoidable 
 defeat. If you are acquainted with Senator Col- 
 lamore of Vermont, I would be pleased if you 
 would say to him that there is a young colonel 
 in the Eleventh Illinois Regiment, a native of 
 
 i6 
 
his State, that I have taken a great interest in 
 for his gallantry and worth. I mean Colonel 
 Ransom.^ He has now been wounded three 
 times in separate engagements, but never 
 showed a willingness to relinquish his com- 
 mand until the day was decided, and always 
 declines a leave to recover from his wounds 
 lest something should transpire in his absence. 
 
 17 
 
JLetter tJiit 
 
 La Grange^ Tennessee^ 
 November 7, 1 862. 
 
 NOT having much of special note to 
 write you since your visit to Jackson, 
 and knov^ing that you were fully en- 
 gaged, I have not troubled you vi^ith a letter. 
 I write now a little on selfish grounds. 
 I see from the papers that Mr. Leonard Swett 
 is to be called near the President in some ca- 
 pacity. I believe him to be one of my bitterest 
 enemies. The grounds of his enmity I sup- 
 pose to be the course I pursued whilst at Cairo 
 toward certain contractors and speculators who 
 wished to make fortunes off of the soldiers and 
 government, and in which he took much in- 
 terest, whether a partner or not.7 He called on 
 me in regard to the rights of a post sutler for 
 Cairo (an appointment not known to the law) 
 whom he had appointed. Finding that I would 
 regard him in the light of any other merchant 
 who might set up there, that I would neither 
 secure him a monopoly of the trade nor his pay 
 
 18 
 
at the pay table for such as he might trust out, 
 the sutler never made his appearance. If he did 
 he never made himself known to me. 
 In the case of some contracts that were given 
 out for the supply of forage, they were given, 
 if not to the very highest bidder, to fer from 
 the lowest, and full 30 per cent, higher than 
 the articles could have been bought for at that 
 time. Learning these fa6ts, I immediately an- 
 nulled the contrails. 
 
 Quite a number of car-loads of grain and hay 
 were brought to Cairo on these contracts, and 
 a change of Quartermaster having taken place 
 in the meantime the new Quartermaster would 
 not receive them without my order, except at 
 rates he could then get the same articles for 
 from other parties. This I refused to give. The 
 contractors then called on me, and tried to 
 convince me that the obligation was binding, 
 but finding me immovable in the matter, asked 
 if General Allen's approval to the contrail 
 would not be sufficient. My reply was, in sub- 
 stance, that General Allen was Chief Quar- 
 termaster of the Department, and I ( 'uld not 
 control him. They immediately left me, and, 
 thinking over the matter, it occurred to me 
 
 19 
 
that they would go immediately to St. Louis 
 and present their contrail for approval without 
 mentioning the objection I made to it. I then 
 telegraphed to General Allen the fads, and 
 put him on his guard against these men. For 
 some reason, however, my dispatch did not 
 reach St. Louis for two days. General Allen 
 then replied to it, stating that those parties 
 had been to him the day before, and knowing 
 no objedion to the contra6l he had approved 
 it. 
 
 The parties then returned to Cairo evidently 
 thinking they had gained a great triumph. But 
 there being no money to pay at that time, and 
 because of the bad repute the Quartermaster's 
 Department was in, they were afraid to take 
 vouchers without my approval. They again 
 called on me to secure this. My reply to them 
 was that they had obtained their contra£l with- 
 out my consent, had it approved against my 
 sense of duty to the government, and they 
 might go on and deliver their forage and get 
 their pay in the same way. I would never ap- 
 prove a voucher for them under that contra6l 
 if they never got a cent. I hoped they would 
 not. This forced them to abandon the contracSl 
 
 20 
 
and to sell the forage already delivered for what 
 it was worth. 
 
 Mr. Swett took much interest in this matter 
 and wrote me one or more letters on the sub- 
 ject, rather offensive in their manner. These 
 letters I have preserved, but they are locked up 
 in Mr. Safford's safe in Cairo. I afterwards 
 learned from undoubted authority that there 
 was a combination of wealthy and influential 
 citizens formed, at the beginning of this war, 
 for the purpose of monopolizing the army con- 
 tracts. One of their boasts was that they had 
 sufficient influence to remove any general who 
 did not please them. 
 
 1 he modus operandi for getting contrails at a 
 high rate, I suppose, was for a member of this 
 association to put in bids commencing at as 
 low rates as the articles could be furnished for, 
 and after they were opened all would retire up 
 to the highest one who was below any outside 
 person and let him take it. In many instances 
 probably they could buy ofi^ this one for a low 
 figure by assuring him that he could not pos- 
 sibly get the contract, for if he did not retire 
 it would be held by the party below. 
 You will see by the papers that I am on the 
 
 21 
 
move. If troops are furnished me to keep open 
 my lines of communication, there will be no 
 delays in this department. Once at Grenada I 
 can draw supplies from Memphis, and save our 
 present very long line. 
 
 I do not see my report of the battle of luka in 
 print. As the papers in General Rosecrans's in- 
 terest have so much misrepresented that affair, 
 I would like to see it in print. I have no objec- 
 tion to that or any other general being made a 
 hero of by the press, but I do not want to see 
 it at the expense of a meritorious portion of the 
 army. I endeavored in that report to give a 
 plain statement of fa6ls, some of which I 
 would never have mentioned had it not be- 
 come necessary in defense of troops who have 
 been with me in all, or nearly all, the battles 
 where I have had the honor to command. I 
 have never had a single regiment disgrace 
 itself in battle yet, except some new ones at 
 Shiloh that never loaded a musket before that 
 battle. . . . 
 
 22 
 
^Letter ix 
 
 Toung^ Pointy Mississippi^ 
 March 10, 1863. 
 
 'C)W that Congress has adjourned, I 
 have thought possible you might want 
 to make a visit to this part of the 
 country. I need not assure you that I would be 
 most glad to see you here, and have you stay 
 during the contest which will take place in the 
 next thirty days from this writing. You will 
 have time to join me if mails are prompt. The 
 canal through would have been a success by to- 
 day but for the great rise of water. The river 
 is now several feet above the whole country 
 hereabout, and our canal was dependent for its 
 success upon keeping the water out of it. The 
 upper dam has broken and submerged things 
 generally. To stop this off will take a number 
 of days, but we will do it. In the meantime, 
 so far as I now know and have official reports, 
 the Yazoo Pass expedition is going to prove a 
 perfect success. This is highly important if for 
 no other purpose than to destroy the transpor- 
 
 ts 
 
tation and embyro gunboats the enemy had 
 there. They have been working for one year 
 on one boat of gigantic proportions up that 
 stream. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson, a young man of 
 great merit, who has been put on General 
 Hunter's staff, but who was on mine as a lieu- 
 tenant, and I objeaed to relieving until the 
 present campaign is over, writes to Rawlins 
 in a private letter that our success in getting 
 into Yazoo Pass is due to the energy of C. C. 
 Washburn. He felt an interest in the enter- 
 prise and took hold with a will, and with men 
 worthy of the obje6l to be accomplished. I 
 have ordered the army corps of McPherson 
 through that way with additional forces, mak- 
 ing him effective men to the number of about 
 twenty-eight thousand. McPherson is one of 
 my best men, and is fully to be trusted. Sher- 
 man stands in the same category. In these two 
 men I have a host. They are worth more than 
 a full brigade each. McPherson will effed a 
 lodgment on the high lands on the Yazoo 
 River east bank, and will co-operate with the 
 troops from here. The class of transports adapt- 
 ed to the pass being so limited, some delay 
 
 24 
 
will necessarily take place in getting them 
 to their destination. I have sent up the river 
 for all the small class of boats that can be 
 got. 
 
 We are going through a campaign here such as 
 has not been heard of on this continent before. 
 The soldiers see the position of the enemy in 
 front of them, but I presume do not sec how 
 they are to attack. Their camp ground is sev- 
 eral feet below water, held in its place by the 
 levees. Constant rains falling keep the roads 
 almost impassable. With all this the men are 
 in good spirits, and feel confident of ultimate 
 success. 
 
 The health of this command is a subject that 
 has been very much exaggerated by the press. 
 I will venture the assertion that there is no 
 army now in the field showing so large a pro- 
 portion of those present with their commands 
 being ready for duty. Reallv our troops are more 
 healthy than could possibly have been expe6led, 
 with all their trials. Although I have told you 
 but little of plans here, it is more than I am in 
 the habit of writing on this subje6t. You will 
 excuse me, therefore, from saying how I ex- 
 pe6l to co-operate with McPherson, at least 
 
 25 
 
until you come down. General Washburn will 
 have command of a very important cavalry ex- 
 pedition from the Yazoo River if all other 
 plans succeed. . . 
 
 26 
 
JLttttx X 
 
 Ficksburg^ Mississippi^ 
 August 30, 1863. 
 
 YOUR letter of the 8th of August, in- 
 closing one from Senator Wilson "^ to 
 you, reached here during my tempo- 
 rary absence to the northern part of my com- 
 niand ; hence my apparent delay in answering. 
 I fullv appreciate all Senator Wilson says. Had 
 it nt)t been for General Flalleck and Dana,9 I 
 think it altogether likely I would have been 
 ordered to the Potomac. My going could do 
 Fio possible good. They have there able officers 
 who have been brought up with that army, and 
 to import a commander to place over them 
 certainlv could produce no good. While 1 
 would not positively disobey an order, I would 
 have objected most vehemently to taking that 
 command or any other, except the one I have. 
 I can do more with this army than it would 
 be possible for me to do with any other with- 
 out time to make the same acquaintance with 
 others I have with this. I know that the sol- 
 
 27 
 
diers of the Army of the Tennessee can be re- 
 hed on to the fullest extent. I believe I know 
 the exadt capacity of every general in my com- 
 mand to lead troops, and just where to place 
 them to get from them their best services. 
 This is a matter of no small importance. . . . 
 The people of the North need not quarrel 
 over the institution of slavery. What Vice- 
 President Stephens acknowledges the corner- 
 stone of the Confederacy is already knocked 
 out. Slavery is already dead, and cannot be 
 resurrected. It would take a standing army to 
 maintain slavery in the South if we were to 
 make peace to-day, guaranteeing to the South 
 all their former constitutional privileges. I 
 never was an abolitionist, not even what could 
 be called antislavery, but I try to judge fairly 
 and honestly, and it became patent to my 
 mind early in the rebellion that the North 
 and South could never live at peace with each 
 other except as one nation, and that without 
 slavery. As anxious as I am to see peace re- 
 established, I would not, therefore, be willing 
 to see any settlement until this question is for- 
 ever settled. 
 Rawlins and Maltby'° have been appointed 
 
 28 
 
brigadier-generals. These are richly deserved 
 promotions. Rawlins especially is no ordinary 
 man. The fad is, had he started in this war in 
 the line instead of in the staff, there is every 
 probability he would be to-day one of our shin- 
 ing lights. As it is, he is better and more fa- 
 vorably known than probably any other officer 
 in the army who has filled only staff appoint- 
 ments. Some men, too many of them, are only 
 made by their staff appointments, while others 
 give respetStability to the position. Rawlins is 
 of the latter class. . . . 
 
 29 
 
Jletter xi 
 
 Head-Quarters^ 
 
 Military Division of the Mississippi^ 
 
 Chattanooga^ Tennessee^ November 13, 1863. 
 
 OME of the citizens of Northern IIH- 
 nois have expressed the conviction that 
 a regiment of cavalry can be raised in a 
 short time from that seClion of the state if 
 special authority be given the Governor to 
 accept them, and have desired that I obtain 
 the authority for them. I want no special favor 
 for myself, and cannot ask the desired authority 
 on that ground. If, however, it is the policy of 
 the Government to accept new organizations, 
 I would recommend that authority be given 
 Governor Yates to accept a regiment of cavalry 
 to be raised in Northern Illinois. 
 
 Hon. E. M. Stanton, 
 
 Secretary of War. 
 
 30 
 
JLttttr xii 
 
 F 
 
 Chattanooga^ Tennessee^ 
 December 2, 1863. 
 
 OR the last three weeks I have not only 
 been busy, but have had company occu- 
 pving my room, making it almost impos- 
 sible for me to write anything. Last week was 
 a stirring time with us, and a magnificent vic- 
 tory was won. I am sorry you could not be here. 
 T'he spectacle was grand beyond anything that 
 has been or is likely to be on this continent. It 
 is the first battlefield I have ever seen where a 
 plan could be followed and from one place the 
 whole field be within one view. At the com- 
 mencement the battle line was fifteen miles 
 long. Hooker on our right soon carried the 
 point of Lookout Mountain, and Sherman the 
 north end of Missionary Ridge, thus shorten- 
 ing the line by five or six miles and bringing 
 the whole within one view. Our troops behaved 
 most magnificently, and have inflicted on the 
 enemy the heaviest blow they have received 
 during the war. . . ." 
 
 31 
 
ILetter xni 
 
 Chattanooga^ Tennessee^ 
 December 12, 1 863. 
 
 LL is well with me. Everything looks 
 /A\ bright and favorable in this command. 
 I feel under many obligations to you 
 for the interest you have taken in my welfare. 
 But recolledl that I have been highly honored 
 already by the Government, and do not ask or 
 feel that I deserve anything more in the shape 
 of honors or promotions. A success over the 
 enemy is what I crave above everything else, 
 and desire to hold such an influence over those 
 under my command as to enable me to use 
 them to the best advantage to secure this end. 
 
 32 
 
iLetter xi'o 
 
 Culpepper C. //., Firginia^ 
 May I, 1864. 
 
 PLEASE permit me to call the attention 
 of Congress, through you, to the fad 
 that the law creating the grade of Lieu- 
 tenant-General, and fixing the pay and allow- 
 ances of staff officers serving with the Lieu- 
 tenant-General, simply revived old laws. Under 
 these his aides, with the rank of lieutenant- 
 colonel, receive only the pay and allowances 
 of officers of their grade in the infantry. Under 
 more recent Acts of Congress all other staff 
 officers receive the pay and allowances of 
 cavalry officers. Major-generals commanding 
 army corps have four staff officers with the 
 rank of lieutenant-colonel who receive cav- 
 alry pay. It certainly never v^as contemplated 
 that the staff of a higher grade and command 
 should receive less pay. I hope that Congress 
 will correct this. 
 
 33 
 
ILttttx ;ct) 
 
 Coid Harbor^ f^irginia^ 
 June 9, 1864. 
 
 YOUR two letters inclosing orders pub- 
 lished by Major-General Washburn 
 have been received. I highly approve 
 the course he is taking, and am glad to see that 
 General Slocum is pursuing a similar course 
 about Vicksburg. I directed some days ago 
 that the Sixteenth Corps staff should report to 
 your brother. I recommend, however, that no 
 commander be named for the Sixteenth Corps 
 until Sherman is heard from, to know whether 
 he would not prefer the consolidation of that 
 portion of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Corps 
 in the field into one corps, and that serving in 
 garrison from these two corps into another. It 
 makes but little difference, however, about this, 
 for as soon as this campaign is over it is prob- 
 able there will be a reconstrudlion of depart- 
 ments and commands. 
 
 . . ■. . Everything is progressing favorably, but 
 slowly. All the fight, except defensive and be- 
 
 34 
 
hind breastworks, is taken out of Lee's arniv. 
 Unless my next move brings on a battle, the 
 balance of the campaign will settle down to a 
 siege. . . . 
 
 35 
 
JLetter x'oi 
 
 Head-Barters, Armies of the United States, 
 City Point, Virginia, July 19, 1864. 
 
 T7N my opinion there ought to be an imme- 
 diate call for say 300,000 men to be put 
 
 LA in the field in the shortest possible time. 
 The presence of this number of reinforcements 
 would save the annoyance of raids, and would 
 enable us to drive the enemy back from his 
 present front, particularly from Richmond, 
 without attacking fortifications. The enemy 
 now have their last men in the field. Every 
 depletion of their army is an irreparable loss. 
 Desertions from it are now rapid. With the 
 prosped of large additions to our force these 
 desertions would increase. The greater number 
 of men we have, the shorter and less sanguinary 
 will be the war. 
 
 I give this entirely as my view and not in any 
 spirit of dictation, always holding myself in 
 readiness to use the material given me to the 
 best advantage I know how. 
 
 To A. Lincoln, President. 
 
 36 
 
JLettcr xM 
 
 City Pointy l^'irginia^ 
 July 23, 1864. 
 
 Y(^UR letter of the 17th, inclosing one 
 from General Scott, is just received. I 
 inclose to you my answer to the gen- 
 eral, which please forward to him. All are well 
 here, and buoyant and full of hope. I wish peo- 
 ple North could be as hopeful as our troops who 
 have to do the fighting are. I cannot write you 
 what I expect to do here. That Maryland raid 
 upset my plans, but I will make an attempt to 
 do something before many days. . . . 
 
 J 
 
 37 
 
itetter x^iii 
 
 City Pointy Virginia^ 
 August 1 6, 1864. 
 
 YOUR letter asking for autographs to 
 send to Mrs. Adams, the wife of our 
 Minister to England, was duly re- 
 ceived. She had also sent to Mr. Dana for the 
 same thing, and his requisition, he being with 
 me at the time, was at once filled. I have di- 
 re6led Colonel Bowers to send with this a few 
 of the original dispatches telegraphed from 
 here. They have all been hastily written, and 
 not with the expectation of ever being seen 
 afterward, but will, I suppose, answer as well as 
 anything else, or as if they had been written 
 especially for the purpose of sending. . . . 
 I state to all citizens who visit me that all we 
 want now to insure an early restoration of the 
 Union is a determined unity of sentiment 
 North. The rebels have now in their ranks 
 their last men. The little boys and old men are 
 guarding prisoners, railroad bridges, and form- 
 ing a good part of their garrisons for intrenched 
 
 38 
 
positions. A man lost by them cannot be re- 
 placed. They have robbed the cradle and the 
 grave equally to get their present force. Be- 
 sides what they lose in frequent skirmishes and 
 battles, they are now losing from desertions 
 and other causes at least one regiment per day. 
 With this drain upon them the end is visible 
 if we will but be true to ourselves. Their only 
 hope now is in a divided North. This might 
 give them reinforcements from Tennessee, 
 Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri, while it 
 would weaken us. With the draft quietly en- 
 forced, the enemy would become despondent, 
 and would make but little resistance. 
 I have no doubt but the enemv are exceedingly 
 anxious to hold out until after the presidential 
 election. They have many hopes from its ef- 
 fects. They hope for a counter-revolution. 
 They hope for the eled^ion of the peace can- 
 didate. In fadl, like Micawber, they hope that 
 something will turn up. Our peace friends, if 
 thev expecf^ peace from separation, are much 
 mistaken. It would be but the beginning of 
 war, with thousands of Northern men joining 
 the South because of the disgrace of our allowing 
 separation. To have peace "on any terms" the 
 
 39 
 
South would demand the restoration of their 
 slaves already freed. They would demand in- 
 demnity for losses sustained, and they would 
 demand a treaty which would make the North 
 slave-hunters for the South. They would de- 
 mand pay or the restoration of every slave es- 
 caping to the North. 
 
 40 
 
Jletter jcijc 
 
 City Pointy Firginia^ 
 December 23, 1864. 
 
 T7 SEE some objedlions are raised to Meade's 
 confirmation as major-general in the regu- 
 
 /-i lar army. What the objecS^ions are I do 
 not know, and cannot therefore address myself 
 to them. I am very sorry this should be so. 
 General Meade is one of our truest men and 
 ablest officers. He has been constantly with 
 that army, confronting the strongest, best-ap- 
 pointed, and most confident army in the South. 
 He therefore has not had the same opportunity 
 of winning laurels so distinctively marked as 
 have fallen to the lot of other generals. But I 
 defy any one to name a commander who could 
 do more than he has done with the same 
 chances. I am satisfied that with a full knowl- 
 edge of the man, what he has done, and the cir- 
 cumstances attending all his military a6ts, all 
 objections would be removed. I wrote a letter 
 to Senator Wilson to-day in his behalf which I 
 hope will have some weight. If you can put in 
 
 41 
 
a word with some of the other Senators, par- 
 ticularly those who oppose his confirmation, 
 and are willing to do it, I will feel much 
 obliged. 
 
 42 
 
iLetter xv 
 
 City Pointy /^irginia^ 
 ^January 24, 1865. 
 
 YOUR letter announcing the comple- 
 tion of the medal '^ was duly received, 
 and not answered because I expe6led 
 to be in Washington about as early as a letter 
 would get there. I did go, but not as early by 
 a day or two as I expected, and then was in such 
 haste that I saw no one out of the War and 
 my own office. I can hardly say when I will be 
 up again. Not for a week or two probably. I do 
 not want the medal here, where there would be 
 such danger of losing it. You can therefore keep 
 it where you deem best until I am ready to take 
 charge of it. . . . 
 
 We hav'e had quite an exciting time here since 
 3 A. M. to-day. The heavy freshet we have 
 been having the last few days has washed away 
 some of our obstructions in the James. About 
 that hour four of the enemy's gunboat? started 
 down the river, and one or two of them actu- 
 ally passed the obstructions. Providence seemed 
 
 43 
 
to be on our side. Our navy certainly was not. 
 Notwithstanding several days' notice had been 
 given, not a single preparation seemed to have 
 been made to receive such a visit. Fortunately, 
 however, two of the enemy's boats grounded 
 near the Howlett House, and those that had 
 passed down turned back. Two of the enemy's 
 boats were sunk and one disabled. The two 
 aground were well pummeled for several hours, 
 and must both of them have been injured, 
 though the report I get is : Two sunk, one 
 disabled. This was all done from land batteries. 
 The naval force left here is not adequate to 
 the work with the obstru6lions removed. I 
 hope, however, to have all right. We have all 
 been very busy since the 3d, and will have 
 everything right before there is any let up. 
 
 44 
 
Jtettcr xvi 
 
 City Pointy Virginia^ 
 February 23, 1 865. 
 yyNCLOSED I send you a letter just re- 
 ceived from Colonel Duff, late of my 
 \ staff. I should be delighted if an ad should 
 pass Congress giving the commander of the 
 army a " chief of staff " with the rank of brig- 
 adier-general in the regular army. It is nec- 
 essary to have such an officer, and I sec no 
 reason why the law should not give it. It 
 would also reward an officer who has won more 
 deserved reputation in this war than any other 
 who has aaed throughout purely as a staff 
 officer. I write to you instead of to Duff, 
 knowing your personal friendship for Rawlins 
 as well as myself, and because you are in a 
 place to help the thing along if you think well 
 of it. 
 
 Mrs. Grant will not be in Washington to at- 
 tend the inauguration, but will be returning 
 North soon after. She would like Mrs. W. to 
 make her a long visit, if she can, before she re- 
 
 45 
 
turns West. Can you not make a run down 
 here and bring Mrs. Washburn with you ? 
 Everything looks like dissolution in the South. 
 A few days more of success with Sherman will 
 put us where we can crow loud. 
 
 46 
 
Iletter xxii 
 
 IVashington^ D. C, 
 May 21, 1865. 
 
 T7 HAVE just received your letter of the 
 1 8th. It has never been my intention to 
 W give up Illinois as my home. The house 
 in Philadelphia was presented to me, I believe, 
 entirely by the Union League of that city. I 
 was not aware the project was under way un- 
 til the money for the purchase was mostly sub- 
 scribed, and then I did not know the parties 
 interesting themselves in the matter. I had 
 seleded Philadelphia as a place for my family, 
 where the children could have good schools 
 and be near, so that I might see them when- 
 ever I had a leisure day. 
 
 It would look egotistical to make a parade in 
 the papers about where I intend to claim as 
 my home, but I will endeavor to be in Galena 
 at the next election and vote there, and declare 
 my intention of claiming that as my home and 
 intention of never casting a vote elsewhere 
 without first giving notice. 
 
 47 
 
I feel very grateful to the citizens of Illinois 
 generally, and to those of Jo Daveiss County 
 and yourself in particular, for the uniform sup- 
 port I have received from that quarter. With- 
 out that support it would now matter but lit- 
 tle where I might claim a residence. I might 
 write a letter to Mr. Stuart,'^ chairman of the 
 Christian Commission, and the most adlive 
 member of the Union League of Philadelphia, 
 in getting up the subscription for my house, 
 stating what I owe to the State of Illinois, and 
 that he and his friends must not think hard of 
 me for holding on to Galena as my home. 
 I will hear from you again before doing any- 
 thing in this matter. At present I am keeping 
 house in Georgetown, and have my family with 
 me. Neither they nor I will be in Philadelphia 
 again, unless it be for a few days, before fall. 
 
 48 
 
iletter ;cjt:tii 
 
 IVashington^ D. 6'., 
 November 9, 1865. 
 
 WILL be in mv new house by Christmas. 
 Without furnishing the fourth story I will 
 have abundance of room for myself and 
 friends. If Mrs. Washburn comes on to visit 
 Washington this winter, bring her to our house. 
 I shall visit New York City a few days next 
 week, to close up the papers on my house pur- 
 chase, and when 1 return go South on an in- 
 spe6lion tour. Once back from that I shall 
 square down for hard work as long as Congress 
 is in session. . . . 
 
 49 
 
^Letter xxi'o 
 
 Head-Barters^ Armies of the United States^ 
 August 1 6, 1866. 
 
 H INCLOSE you a letter from Sherman on 
 the subject of Atchison's appointment on 
 his staff, and also an extract from a semi- 
 official letter of a subsequent date on the same 
 subject. Sherman feels every disposition to ac- 
 commodate both you and me. But it is a hard 
 test to ask a man to dismiss a staff officer who 
 has been with him through the war, and who 
 he likes, to take one who has done no service 
 with him. I do not know that McCoy or Day- 
 ton have received commissions in the regular 
 army. If they have not, or do not, they will 
 not be eligible for their staff positions long. 
 Campbell has invited me to be present in Ga- 
 lena on the 9th of November. This date seems 
 to be fixed with the view of having me there 
 at the election. I have no objedlion to being 
 in Galena at that time, but do not think it 
 proper for an army officer, particularly the 
 army commander, to take part in elections. 
 
 50 
 
Your friendship for me has been such that I 
 should not hesitate to support you for personal 
 reasons, on the ground that there is no one 
 who cannot recognize great ads of friendship. 
 
 51 
 
JLttttx XX'O 
 
 Washington^ D. C, 
 March 4, 1867. 
 
 YOUR telegraphic dispatch in favor of 
 the confirmation of General Dix,^S 
 also your letter, partly on the same 
 subjecSl, were duly received. I lost no time in 
 communicating the substance of your dispatch 
 to as many Senators as I could. I am glad to 
 be able to announce to you this morning a fa£l 
 which you will, no doubt, learn by telegraph 
 long before this reaches you, that the Senate 
 has confirmed him. 
 
 Reconstru6lion measures have passed both 
 houses of Congress over one of the most ridi- 
 culous veto messages that ever emanated from 
 any President.'^ Jerry Black^7 is supposed to be 
 the author of it. He has been about Washing- 
 ton for some time, and I am told has been a 
 great deal about the White House. It is a fit- 
 ting end to all our controversy (I believe this 
 last measure is to be a solution unless the Presi- 
 dent proves an obstrucSlion) that the man who 
 
 S^ 
 
tried to prove, at the beginning of our domestic 
 difficulties, that the nation had no constitutional 
 power to save itself is now trying to prove that 
 the nation has not now the power, after a vic- 
 tory, to demand security for the future. I hope 
 you will see this message, Reverdy Johnson's 
 remarks, and Governor Brown's (of Georgia) 
 letter, and contrast the two latter with the 
 former. 
 
 I am sorry to learn from your letter that your 
 health has not improved. I thought that free- 
 dom from care, with the witticisms of Jones, 
 would cure you. I hope it will yet have that 
 effea. 
 
 I see no chance of getting abroad this year. Do 
 not show what I have said on political matters 
 to any one. It is not proper that a subordinate 
 should criticise the a£ts of his superiors in a 
 public manner. I rely upon our personal rela- 
 tions, however, to speak to you freely as I feel 
 upon all important matters. 
 Give my kindest regards to Jones. Tell him 
 not to fail to keep his journal up, ready for pub- 
 lication on his return. I rely on the proceeds 
 of the sale of that journal to save the earnings 
 of our horse rail road to go into the hands of 
 
 53 
 
the stockholders. You know Jones must be 
 supported, and the horse concern is a "bird in 
 hand.'* Hoping to hear soon from you again, 
 and that your health is much improved, I re- 
 main, as ever, your friend 
 
 54 
 
ILttttx xx^i 
 
 IVashington^ D. C, 
 ^pril 5, 1867. 
 
 VERYTHING is getting on well here 
 under the Congressional ReconstrucSlion 
 Bill, and all will be well if administra- 
 tion and copperhead influence do not defeat 
 the objects of that measure. So far there has 
 been no absolute interference with the adls of 
 distri6t commanders, all of whom are carrying 
 out the measures of Congress according to the 
 spirit of their ads, but much dissatisfadion has 
 been expressed at Sheridan's removal of the 
 New Orleans civil officers. Sheridan has given 
 public satisfaction, however. In his private ca- 
 pacity he shows himself the same fearless, true 
 man that he did in the field. He makes no 
 mistakes. 
 
 I see no possible chance of getting abroad this 
 year. I am not egotistical enough to suppose 
 that my duties cannot be performed by others 
 just as well as myself, but Congress has made 
 it my duty to perform certain offices, and whilst 
 
 55 
 
there is an antagonism between the executive 
 and legislative branches of the Government, 
 I feel the same obligation to stand at my post 
 that I did whilst there were rebel armies in 
 the field to contend with. . . 
 
 56 
 
JLttttv XXW 
 
 Galena^ Illinois^ 
 September 23, 1868. 
 
 '7 AM glad to see Congress found it expe- 
 dient to adjourn without further legisla- 
 ^ tion. 1 feared the effea of legislation at 
 this time, and then, too, if Congress had re- 
 mained in session it would prevent Andrew 
 Johnson from talcing his proposed trip to East 
 Tennessee. I have as much afFedion for him 
 as Frank Blair had for the "Fennigans," and 
 would go just as far as Frank would go to see 
 him off, and would hold out every inducement 
 to have him remain. 
 
 My time passes very pleasantly and quietly here, 
 and I have determined to remain until some 
 time after the October ekaions. I will aim to be 
 in Washington a few, but a few, days before the 
 November eledion. There is nothing partic- 
 ularly stirring occurring here. A person would 
 not know there was a canvass going on if it were 
 not for the accounts we read in the papers of 
 great gatherings all over the country. 
 
 51 
 
Please remember me to Mr. Alexander T. 
 Stewart, Mr. Moses H. Grinnell, and Mr. 
 William E. Dodge, who all have taken great 
 interest in my welfare, even before they knew 
 me personally. The same might be said of hosts 
 of other New Yorkers, but the names of all 
 cannot be enumerated in a single letter. 
 
 58 
 
JLetter xx'oiii 
 
 flashing ton ^ D. C, 
 March II, 1869. 
 
 OUR resignation of the office of Sec- 
 retary of State, with reasons for the 
 same, is received. In accepting it I do 
 so with regret that your health will not per- 
 mit you to continue in the office or in some 
 Cabinet position.'^ Our personal relations have 
 been, from the breaking out of the rebellion to 
 the present day, and your support of me in- 
 dividually and of the army and its cause, such 
 that no other idea presented itself stronger to 
 my mind, on the first newsof my election to the 
 presidency, than that I should continue to have 
 your advice and assistance. In parting with you, 
 therefore, I do it with assurances of continued 
 confidence in your ability, zeal, and friendship, 
 and with the hope that you may soon be re- 
 lieved from the physical disabilities under 
 which you have labored for the last few years. 
 
 59 
 
JLetter xxiv 
 
 fVashington^ D. C, 
 April 9, 1869. 
 
 VT HAVE been pained to learn that a man up- 
 on whom I have conferred an appointment 
 iA should have been a lobbyist to Congress 
 (in the McGarrahan case), and, failing to get 
 the vote he u^ished from the committee hav- 
 ing the matter in charge, should become the 
 traducer of the committee, v^hich, it seems, 
 were within one of being unanimous in their 
 report. It seems that ... has been ailing in 
 this way, and very much to the prejudice of 
 Wilson particularly, the chairman of the com- 
 mittee. It may be that ... is misrepresented 
 in this matter, but I understand that the cor- 
 respondents who are traducing Wilson give 
 ... as their authority. Now you know, and 
 I presume . . . did, that there was no man in 
 the Fortieth Congress for whom I had a high- 
 er regard than for the Hon. J. F. Wilson,'9 
 and that he was one of the men whom I con- 
 fidently hoped to have connected with my ad- 
 
 60 
 
ministration. To have him slandered over my 
 shoulders, I feel as I would to have you, who 
 stood by me through evil as well as through 
 good report, slandered in the same way. I do 
 not believe you care to have with you as sec- 
 retary of legation a man guilty of such con- 
 du£^. Of course this is presuming his guilt be- 
 fore hearing the other side. I would be but too 
 glad to have the report authentically contra- 
 dicted. But as the matter stands now Wilson 
 feels terribly aggrieved, and I think very justly 
 so. . . . has no doubt read what the corre- 
 spondents Piatt and Boynton have said in this 
 matter, and knows how far they are sustained 
 in them by his statements. His opinion of their 
 opinion of the merits of the McGarrahan 
 claim, or what they say about the report of the 
 committee upon it, I have nothing to do with. 
 The matter which concerns me is the state- 
 ment that I have been influenced in my course 
 toward Wilson by reason of dissatisfaction with 
 his public adts, and that my notice has been 
 called to them through some agency of . . . 
 
 6i 
 
^Letter xvx 
 
 JVashington^ D. C, 
 September 7, 1869. 
 
 UR mutual and much esteemed friend, 
 General Rawlins, expired yesterday, 
 after, as you are aware, years of gradual 
 decline. Although he has lived far beyond what 
 his most sanguine friends hoped, yet his final 
 taking off has produced a shock which would 
 be felt for but few of our public men. He re- 
 tained his consciousness up to within a few 
 minutes of his death. Although I was not with 
 him in his dying hours, I am told that his 
 greatest concern seemed to be for his destitute 
 family. I was at Saratoga when his rapid de- 
 cline commenced. The first dispatch I received 
 indicating any immediate danger was on Satur- 
 day evening, or night, after the last train had 
 left. I was compelled to remain until Sunday 
 evening, and arrived consequently about forty 
 minutes after he had breathed his last. 
 I have been intending for months to write you, 
 and have no special excuse for not doing so. 
 
 62 
 
except that when I do get alone for an hour 1 
 always happen to have something to do. Whilst 
 I have been away this summer I have been 
 very much let alone by people who have an 
 axe to grind, but there has scarcely ever been 
 a minute when there were not callers. You will 
 see by the official statements that the first six 
 months of the administration have been suc- 
 cessful in improving the revenue collections, 
 and somewhat in reducing expenses. The show- 
 ing is a reduction of forty-nine million of the 
 public debt. The a<£tual decrease is greater. 
 McCulloch^° kept no interest account, conse- 
 quentlv on the 4th of March no interest due 
 that dav, or coupons overdue but not presented 
 for payment, appeared as a part of the public 
 debt. We have adually paid about six million 
 in gold of old coupons which the statements 
 give no credit for. In addition to this, we have 
 paid probably as much as two million in cur- 
 rency on contracts fulfilled and purchases made 
 before the ist of March, which is another dead 
 horse paid for. 
 
 63 
 
^Letter xxxi 
 
 Washington^ D. C, 
 yanuary 28, 1 870. 
 
 T7 RECEIVED your interesting personal 
 letter a day or two ago, and snatch a few 
 ^ moments to answer it. In reality I have no 
 quiet time in which to write letters, scarcely 
 to read the current news of the day. The con- 
 tinuous press of people continues yet about as 
 it was last spring. You will see by the papers 
 that the ratification of the Fifteenth Amend- 
 ment is assured. With this question out of poli- 
 tics, and reconstru6tion completed, I hope to 
 see such good feeling in Congress as to secure 
 rapid legislation and an early adjournment. My 
 peace is when Congress is not in session. My 
 family are all well and wish to be remembered 
 to Mrs. Washburn, the children, and yourself. 
 The Emperor has been kind enough to send 
 me pleasant messages several times, which 
 please say to him have been duly received and 
 are highly appreciated. Please convey to him 
 my best wishes for a continuance of his good 
 
 64 
 
health and the happiness and prosperity of the 
 people over whom he has been called to rule. 
 It has been the desire of my life to visit Europe 
 and particularly France, but so far I have been 
 too busy. If spared to get through my present 
 office, I shall take a year or two to visit those 
 parts of the world I have not yet seen. 
 
 65 
 
JLetter xxvU 
 
 Washington^ D. C, 
 July 10, 1870. 
 
 EHAVE received your recent letters, two 
 in regard to General Robert Anderson. I 
 do not know how anything can be done for 
 the general at present, but I do know, or at 
 least feel, that the American people will never 
 permit his family to suffer. Should the worst 
 happen, the general and his femily will be 
 taken care of. I would start the matter, and 
 what is or has been done for Rawlins' and Stan- 
 ton's families would probably be done for Gen- 
 eral Anderson's. 
 
 Congress is soon to adjourn. The refledtion is 
 almost a compensation for the suffering en- 
 dured during its session. If it were not for the 
 feeling of loyalty of the people, and the almost 
 certainty that a Democratic success would be 
 repudiation and surrender to old Southern lead- 
 ers,' there is but little doubt but that the 
 Republican party would lose control of the 
 country at the next election. Lack of attention 
 
 66 
 
to material interests, wrangling among them- 
 selves, dividing and allowing the few Demo- 
 crats to be the balance to fix amendments to 
 every important measure (and voting against 
 the whole bill when brought to a vote), attack- 
 ing each other and the administration when 
 any individual's views were not conformed to, 
 has put the party in a very bad light. I think 
 everything will be right two years hence, and 
 that members see the errors they have com- 
 mitted. I shall hope so at least. If we had had 
 a short session of Congress, and harmonious, 
 the party would never have been on as strong 
 a footing as now. All that was necessary to do 
 was to pass the appropriation bills, admit the 
 outstanding States, pass a funding bill and 
 promise the people a redudion of eighty mill- 
 ion of taxes at their next session. We could 
 well spare that amount if the public debt bore 
 but five per cent. 
 
 67 
 
Itetter xxxiii 
 
 Long Branchy N. y.y 
 August 22, 1870. 
 
 WHEN I wrote to you last, although 
 it was but a few days before the dec- 
 laration of war by France, I had no 
 idea that such an event was even threatening. 
 I was taken by surprise, as Napoleon admits 
 he was in one of [King] William's attacks. 
 The result, if we read right in our papers, has 
 surprised me. I supposed from the declaration 
 of war coming from the French they would be 
 all ready, while the Prussians might not be 
 fully so, and therefore, at the beginning, the 
 French would have it all their own way. The 
 Prussian military system is so perfect, however, 
 that I believed singlehanded they would be too 
 much for the French in the end. The war has 
 developed the facA here that every unrecon- 
 structed rebel sympathizes with France, with- 
 out exception, while the loyal element is al- 
 most as universally the other way. Poor Napo- 
 leon, I suppose, will retire to private life. 
 
 68 
 
r 
 
 ILetter xxxi'^ 
 
 IVashington^ D. C, 
 May 26, 1872. 
 
 S WROTE you a long letter just before 
 the meeting of the Cincinnati Conven- 
 tion, but as I did not complete it before 
 that event, and as most of the letter was upon 
 the subject of that convention, I did not send 
 it. The work has been done, and no one is 
 satisfied but Greeley himself and a few Tam- 
 many Republicans who expedt office under 
 him, if he is elected, and who know that under 
 no other man could they be appointed to office. 
 I predial that Greeley will not even be a can- 
 didate when the elecElion comes off. The De- 
 mocracy are not going to take him, and his 
 following in the Republican ranks is not suffi- 
 cient to make up an eledoral ticket, nor is it 
 composed of respedability enough to put on 
 such a ticket. His nomination has had a good 
 effea, however. It has apparently harmonized 
 the party by getting out of it the "soreheads" 
 and knaves who made all the trouble because 
 
 69 
 
they could not control. The movement was 
 egged on by the Democrats, the rank and file 
 adding in good faith, until now the efFedl 
 upon them is just what the leaders intended it 
 should be upon the Republicans ; it is dividing 
 their party. Many of the Democratic papers, 
 particularly in the South, have committed 
 themselves so thoroughly that they will have 
 to go to Baltimore on the 9th of July in sup- 
 port of Greeley. Many others will go there to 
 break up the Cincinnati ticket by putting one 
 of its candidates at the tail of a new ticket, and 
 Adams, Davis, or Trumbull at the head. The 
 old Hunkers will fight all such movements, 
 and, in my judgment, will carry the day, but 
 will create great disafFedlion in their ranks. 
 We will soon see how my prediction comes 
 out. 
 
 70 
 
JLttttr XXX^ 
 
 Long Branchy N. J.^ 
 August 26, 1872. 
 
 YOUR confidential letter relating to 
 the probable position of Curtin^' 
 was received during my last visit to 
 Washington. He, Curtin, probably arrived 
 in New York city yesterday, Sunday ; but 
 there is no communication between this and 
 the outside world on Sunday except by tele- 
 graph, so that I do not know positively. I 
 expedl him to come and see me as soon as he 
 does arrive, though I know he will be met on 
 arrival, and everything possible will be offered 
 him to corrupt him. The Greeleyites will be 
 as liberal in their offers to him as Satan was to 
 our Saviour, and with as little ability to pay. 
 Curtin's defedlion would probably cost us the 
 State of Pennsylvania in Odlober, so far as 
 the Governor and Legislature are concerned, 
 but without him the Congressmen at large, 
 three of them, and Judge of the Superior 
 Court and other officers on the State ticket 
 
 71 
 
would be eledled, and we would carry the 
 State in November. 
 
 I do not often indulge in predictions, but I 
 have had a feeling that Greeley might not even 
 be in the field in November. If he is, I do not 
 think he will carry a single Northern State. In 
 the South I give him Tennessee and Texas, 
 with Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Ken- 
 tucky, Georgia, Florida, and Arkansas doubt- 
 ful, with the chances in our favor in all of 
 them except Maryland. Missouri might also 
 be added to the doubtful States." This is the 
 way matters look now, but they may be modi- 
 fied before November. We "shall see what we 
 shall see" before long. 
 
 72 
 
JLttttx xxx'oi 
 
 fVashington^ D. C, 
 OSioher 25, 1872. 
 
 YOUR letter of the nth Oaober is 
 just received, and I hasten to answer, 
 as you request. I think it very doubt- 
 ful about my going to Galena for the election, 
 though I may do so. My judgment now is 
 that the prediction which I made to you about 
 the result of the November election will prove 
 nearly right. Maryland, West Virginia, Ken- 
 tucky, Tennessee, Georgia and Texas will 
 probably cast their votes for Mr. Greeley, 
 Missouri may do the same thing. It would not 
 if we could have a fair eledion throughout the 
 State. Some counties in that State are as bad as 
 any portion of Georgia, and may lose us the 
 electoral vote. Virginia is also a possible State 
 for Mr. Greeley, though the chances are in our 
 favor. 
 
 73 
 
Jtetter nxW 
 
 Long Branchy N. y., 
 Jugust 23 , 1875. 
 
 T7 HAVE been intending for a long time to 
 write to you, but I have so got out of the 
 il way of writing social letters that I have not 
 now left a single correspondent — not even in 
 my own family — except on official business. I 
 have nothing now special to say further than 
 that I am always glad to hear from you. In 
 political matters you keep posted through the 
 press, and are no doubt struck with the chronic 
 annual scare of the Republicans lest the Demo- 
 crats should get into power. Just now the Ohio 
 election is frightening them. They seem to feel 
 as though the loss of Ohio this fall would in- 
 sure a Democratic vidlory next year and lead 
 to inflation of the currency, repudiation, the 
 undoing of all that has been accomplished by 
 the War and Republican Administrations in 
 the way of reconstruction, and national dis- 
 grace. I take a much more hopeful view of the 
 situation. I am anxious, of course, to see the 
 
 74 
 
Republicans carry Ohio. But it" they should 
 not I would not feel in the least discouraged. 
 The fa6t is that while Ohio is sound by one 
 hundred thousand majority on the financial 
 issue, and the Republicans have not a sound 
 platform on that issue, and the Democrats a 
 very unsound and dishonest one, if Ohio is lost 
 in this eledlion it will be on this question 
 alone. So much time elapses between nomina- 
 tions and ele(5lions that the Democrats will all 
 be whipped into line on the ground that the 
 question now at issue is only which of the two 
 parties they would rather see control the State. 
 They are not voting for an executive of the 
 nation, nor for lawmakers who can legislate on 
 the subject of national finances. In the Repub- 
 lican ranks there are very many men who are 
 in debt, or whose business has slackened, that 
 think an abundant currency would help them 
 out of their difficulties, and who will not vote, 
 or if they do vote, it will be against their party. 
 I believe that if the Democratic party carries 
 Ohio this fall, it will give the repudiationists — 
 for inflation means repudiation — such a pres- 
 tige in the nominating convention next year 
 that the hard-money men of the party, includ- 
 
 75 
 
ing all from the Pacific Coast, all New Eng- 
 land, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, 
 Maryland, Texas, and some from other States, 
 will split and put up two tickets as they did in 
 i860. If so, the race in 1876 will be an easy 
 one. With a contrary result there will prob- 
 ably be but two tickets, both on a moderately 
 sound financial platform. 
 I did not think of writing so much of a poli- 
 tical letter as I have done, but it may interest 
 you to hear private views on this subject. On 
 the question of candidates for next year there 
 seems to be nothing definite to base a predic- 
 tion upon as to who will be the standard 
 bearers. 
 
 76 
 
better xxx'ani 
 
 I 7, Cavendish Square^ London^ 
 Ju7ie^, 1877. 
 
 ^T\ /7Y stay in London has been more pro- 
 trailed than I had intended, or will be 
 
 n 
 
 Li LA before my accepted engagements are 
 fulfilled. I have accepted invitations for every 
 day up to and including the 26th of this 
 month. On the 28th of June I will be at a 
 banquet to be given in Liverpool. Within a few 
 days of that time, most likely on the first day 
 of July, I will be in Paris on my way to Swit- 
 zerland. My stay will probably not reach more 
 than a day or two beyond the 4th of July in 
 Paris. The reception I have had in England so 
 far has been very gratifying, and I think very 
 complimentary to our country. I recognize the 
 fa(£l that it is more for the country all the com- 
 pliments I am receiving are intended, than for 
 me personally. 
 
 I will send my courier to Paris to secure 
 quarters for our short stay, or will get General 
 Torbcrt to do this for me. I will be compelled 
 
 11 
 
to be very moderate in my expenditures, to cor- 
 respond with my means. In fa6l, the extent of 
 my visit abroad will depend entirely on how 
 long I can stay upon the limited capital I have 
 brought with me. 
 
 78 
 
Hetter xxxix 
 
 I 7, Cavendish Square^ London^ 
 June 1 6, 1877. 
 
 TT SHALL follow your advice in regard to 
 my visit to Paris. I will pass through on my 
 *-i way to Switzerland, possiblv staving over 
 two or three days in the city, but having it 
 understood that I am only passing now, but 
 will visit there again about the last of October 
 — middle to last — when I will stay some six 
 weeks. I have written to Mr. Harps, who was 
 kind enough to invite me to a garden party on 
 mv arrival, to the same effect, saying, how- 
 ever, that I should be guided entirely by your 
 judgment as to whether I should accept any 
 invitations until my return in the fall. I will 
 probably go over to Paris on the 6th of July, 
 but will telegraph or write you the exa6l time 
 of my departure. 
 
 The railroad company here has been kind 
 enough to ask me to accept a special trarn to 
 Dover, and from Calais to Paris, which will 
 probably put me in advance of the regular train. 
 
 79 
 
^Letter n 
 
 1 6, Beaufort Gardens^ London^ 
 June 22, 1877. 
 
 77 HAVE determined to leave here for Paris 
 on my way to Switzerland on the 5th of 
 ii July. The Eastern Railroad Company have 
 been kind enough to put a special train and 
 boat at my service, which will put us through 
 from London to Paris in eight hours. I want, 
 as you advise, to have it understood that for 
 the present I will be in Paris this time simply 
 in transitu^ and will make my visit of several 
 weeks at a later period, probably about the 
 middle or last of October. My party will con- 
 sist of Mrs. Grant and maid, Jesse and myself, 
 and a courier who will look out for himself. 
 Our stay will not extend three days. You were 
 kind enough to propose to engage apartments 
 for us during our short stay ; will you be good 
 enough to take them according to the above 
 programme, and advise me before my arrival. 
 
 80 
 
3Lctter xli 
 
 Gebriider Drexel^ Hojiiferanten^ Frankfurt^ 
 July 19, 1877. 
 
 YOUR letter expressing regret that you 
 could not be at the dinner given last 
 evening reached me in the afternoon 
 too late to answer until this a. m. The dinner 
 was a most pleasant aft'air, and the grounds 
 about where it was given surpass anything I 
 have ever seen for beauty and exquisite taste 
 horticulturally. I am sorry you could not be 
 here, but understand how impossible it is under 
 the circumstances, having a family to move for 
 the summer, to start ofF at a moment's notice. 
 I must leave here on Monday next to carry out 
 my designs. I go dire6l from here to Luzerne, 
 Switzerland, to commence the tour of that 
 country. Having delayed so by the way I will 
 have to be satisfied with a couple of weeks in 
 Switzerland. It is my intention to visit Den- 
 mark, Norway and Sweden, so as to return to 
 Scotland by the last week in August, to do up 
 that part of the island of Great Britain. I will 
 
 81 
 
not be in Paris now before the middle to the 
 last of Odober. I hope I may meet you there 
 at that time. 
 
 If Mr. Davis, our Minister to Germany, is 
 with you, please say to him for me that I re- 
 ceived his very kind note at the same time I 
 did yours. If he goes to Switzerland I shall 
 hope to meet him there, and also Mrs. Davis. 
 But I would not have him go to Berlin on 
 my account. If there at all this summer it will 
 be but for a single day on my return this way, 
 and then to pay a longer visit to the German 
 capital; possibly I may do so this fall after my 
 visit to Scotland. 
 
 82 
 
better xlii 
 
 Paris^ 
 OSiober 7, 1878. 
 
 KAM just in receipt of your very welcome 
 letter of the 23d of September. I have no 
 recolleaion of receiving a letter from you 
 written about the time of your departure from 
 Paris. I am sure I should have answered, had 
 such a letter reached me. The last communica- 
 tion I remember anything of was either a letter 
 or dispatch — the latter, I think — received by 
 me at Frankfort, in answer to mine stating the 
 time I would remain there. I was very sorry 
 not to meet you there. 
 
 As you say, it is bliss to be out of the United 
 States just at a time when all the bad elements 
 in the country are seemingly carrying every- 
 thing before them. It is to be hoped, and I 
 think confidently to be relied upon, that all the 
 isms will have run their course before 1880. It 
 is incomprehensible that men — not to say a 
 majority — could be found who are willing to 
 upset the country financially just at a time 
 
 83 
 
when we have got so near to specie payments, 
 when we have established the highest credit 
 known among nations, and when general pros- 
 perity to the country is just dawning. The 
 whole Democratic party cried itself hoarse over 
 the outrage upon the Constitution when the 
 nation, in its desperation, adopted the "legal 
 tender note." Every Democratic judge upon 
 the supreme bench, I believe, gave a judicial 
 opinion against the constitutionality of the adl, 
 and every Republican member of the court 
 sustained it only on the ground of imperative 
 necessity, a means to save the nation's life, on 
 the ground of self-defense and self-preserva- 
 tion justifying the means. Now the whole 
 party seems to be willing to issue an unlimited 
 quantity of this money in spite of their pre- 
 vious declaration, in spite of the solemn promise 
 that above a certain amount — 400,000,000 — 
 should not be issued, in spite of the solemn ob- 
 ligation that those issued should be redeemed 
 in coin, understood at the time to be gold coin. 
 I believe I am right in this statement of the 
 views of the Supreme Court on the money 
 question. . . . 
 We leave here in a few days for Spain and 
 
 84 
 
Portugal. When we have visited those coun- 
 tries we will have been in every country in 
 Europe, and a little of Africa and Asia. I have 
 enjoyed it all very much, but often feel home- 
 sick to get back. If I should go back now, how- 
 ever, I would have no home to go to. In the 
 spring I would have my Long Branch home, 
 where I could stay through the sumnier and 
 make arrangements for the winter. Mrs. Grant 
 joins me in kindest regards to Mrs. Washburn 
 and the children, as well as to yourself. I will 
 always be glad to hear from you, and hope I 
 shall not prove negligent in answering. 
 
 85 
 
JLttttx xiiii 
 
 Paris^ 
 December 24, 1878. 
 
 YOUR very welcome letter of Novem- 
 ber the 24th was awaiting me here on 
 my return to Paris some ten days 
 since. I was very glad to hear from you again, 
 but sorry to learn the cause of the detention of 
 your family East this winter. I hope your 
 daughter is improving, and that she will, soon 
 be restored to entire health. 
 You have seen by the papers that I have de- 
 termined to go home by India, China, and Ja- 
 pan. This will not probably delay my return, 
 but it will land me in San Francisco about the 
 time 1 expeded to reach Philadelphia — say 
 the last of June. If we get to San Francisco as 
 early as that or nearly so, I shall want to re- 
 main on the Pacific coast six weeks or two 
 months. I spent two years there in early life, 
 and always felt the greatest desire to make it 
 my future home. Nothing ever fell over me 
 like a wet blanket so much as my promotion 
 
 86 
 
to the lieutenant-generalcy. As junior major- 
 general in the regular army I thought my 
 chances good for being placed in command of 
 the Pacific division when the war closed. As 
 lieutenant-general all hope of that kind van- 
 ished. You wrote me that you had been all 
 over the Pacific coast before, and how much 
 interested you were in that country. 
 I anticipate great pleasure from the trip before 
 me. The fa6t is, I take much more interest in 
 seeing countries but seldom visited by foreign- 
 ers than in seeing those where one comes but 
 little in contact with others than those foreign 
 to the soil visited. I shall endeavor to profit by 
 the journey, even if I should write nothing. So 
 far 1 have abstained from giving my views 
 about the institutions and people of the coun- 
 tries I have already visited. The fadt is, how- 
 ever, that I have seen nothing to make me re- 
 gret that I am an American. Our country, its 
 resources, the energy, ingenuity, and intelli- 
 gence of the people, etc., is more appreciated 
 abroad than at home. If our politicians and 
 people could see us as others see us, and see 
 how much better off all producing classes are 
 with us than in the most favored nation of 
 
 87 
 
Europe, they would have much less to com- 
 plain of and more to be thankful for. 
 I am much pleased with the result of the No- 
 vember eledtions. It seems to me to put the 
 RepubHcan party right for 1880. Providence 
 seems to diredt that something should be done 
 just in time to save the party of progress and 
 national unity and equality. The Potter in- 
 vestigating committee and the financial ques- 
 tion did it the last time. 
 
 My mails for two months from this time should 
 be sent to United States Consul, Bombay. I 
 shall always be pleased to hear from you. 
 
 88 
 
JLttttx ;cli\) 
 
 Singapore^ Straits Settlements, 
 Jpril ^, 1879. 
 
 INCE mv last letter to you I have seen 
 much of the world new to me, and but 
 little visited by our countrymen. The 
 reality is different from my anticipations as to 
 climate, charaderistics of the natives, the gov- 
 ernments that have been forced upon them, 
 etc., etc. My idea had been rather that English 
 rule in this part of the globe was purely selfish, 
 all for the benefit of "Old England " and pam- 
 pered sons sent here to execute laws enacted at 
 home, and nothing for the benefit of the gov- 
 erned. I will not say that I was all wrong, but 
 I do say that Englishmen are wise enough to 
 know that the more prosperous they can make 
 the subject, the greater consumer he will be- 
 come, and the greater will be the commerce 
 and trade between the home government and 
 the colony, and greater the contentment of the 
 governed. This quarter is governed on that 
 theory, and, as far as my opportunities have 
 
 89 
 
given me the power to judge, by a most dis- 
 creet, able, and well-chosen set of officials. My 
 opinion is that if the English should withdraw 
 from India and the East, they would scarcely 
 get off the soil before the work of rapine and 
 murder and wars between native chiefs would 
 begin. The retrograde to absolute barbarism 
 would be more rapid than progress toward civ- 
 ilization is possible ; it would be almost instan- 
 taneous. As Mr. Young, who is traveling with 
 me, gives accurate and detailed accounts of 
 every place we visit, and all we see, nothing of 
 this sort is necessary from me. I keep somewhat 
 careful notes, however, — have since leaving 
 Paris for the East, — but doubt whether I shall 
 ever use them further than for my own refer- 
 ence. 
 
 The weather is getting very warm in this sec- 
 tion, and we must expe6l a good deal of it be- 
 fore we get to a cool climate. In a few days 
 we start for Bangkok, Siam, and return here — 
 within a degree of the equator — to take steam- 
 er for Hong Kong. I shall then visit Chinese 
 ports as far north as Shanghai, and possibly go 
 to Pekin before visiting Japan. It looks now as 
 if we would reach San Francisco as earlv as 
 
 90 
 
August. I am both homesick and dread going 
 home. I have no home, but must establish one 
 after I e:et back. I do not know where. 
 
 91 
 
Jletter xVo 
 
 Government House^ Hong Kong^ 
 May 4, 1879. 
 
 T7 AM just in receipt of your letter of the 
 4th of February from San Antonio. I was 
 ii in San Antonio in December, 1845, when 
 it was but little else than a Mexican town and 
 isolated from all settlements. From Corpus 
 Christi to San Antonio there was not a family 
 except a few Mexican settlers along the San 
 Antonio River for some miles below the town. 
 From there to Austin there was not a habita- 
 tion except at New Bensfelt, which had been 
 colonized, I think, that year. 
 We are now on the homestretch, letters going 
 much quicker to America by the East than by 
 the West. Up to this time myself and party 
 have had the same hearty welcome and kind 
 hospitalities as we experienced throughout In- 
 dia. It promises to be the same thing through 
 China and Japan. At this place I have received 
 official notification from both governments of 
 their desire to make my stay among them as 
 
 92 
 
pleasant as possible. This is really the most 
 beautiful place I have yet seen in the East. 
 The city is admirably built and the scenery is 
 most picturesque. The harbor is made by the 
 irregular high land on the main shore and in- 
 numerable islands coming up out of the sea 
 and rising to a height of from 500 to 1,700 
 feet above. We go to-morrow to Canton, 
 thence to Shanghai and Pelcin. On the way we 
 will make short stops at several China sea- 
 ports. I expe6l to reach Yokohama about the 
 last of June, and San Francisco late in August. 
 I expe£t to remain on the Pacific for some 
 weeks, and then go to Galena to remain until 
 the weather gets cold. Where we will spend 
 the winter I have not determined. We may go 
 to Florida and Havana. 
 
 93 
 
Itetter jrltji 
 
 Nikko^ yapan^ 
 July 23, 1879. 
 
 OME weeks since I received your letter 
 written after you had received mine from 
 Bombay. You had not received one from 
 me written after your suggestion had been re- 
 ceived to go to Galena on my return home. I 
 answered that letter, saying that I should go 
 there, and presume you received it after yours 
 was written. Lest you may not have received 
 it, however, I repeat that it has been my in- 
 tention to go to Galena on my return. 
 Since my last to you I have visited the princi- 
 pal seacoast cities in China, and Pekin in the 
 interior, and have now been nearly a month in 
 this most interesting country and among these 
 interesting people. China stands where she did 
 when her ports were first opened to foreign 
 trade. I think I see dawning, however, the be- 
 ginning of a change. When it does come China 
 will rapidly become a powerful and rich nation. 
 Her territory is vast and is full of resources, 
 
 94 
 
agricultural, mineral ; iron, coal, copper, silver, 
 and gold, besides nearly every other metal, 
 abound as they do with us. The population is 
 industrious, frugal, intelligent, and quick to 
 learn. They are natural artisans and trades- 
 men. From Bombay to Hong Kong they mo- 
 nopolize all the trades — mechanical — the mar- 
 ket gardening, trucking, stevedoring, small 
 shopkeeping, etc., and are rapidly driving out 
 the larger merchants. They cannot do so well, 
 however, in their own country. Thev must 
 have the protection of a better and more hon- 
 est government to succeed. Neither the coun- 
 trv, cities, nor people present attractions to 
 invite the traveller to make a second visit. 
 Japan is different. The country is beautiful 
 beyond description. Every street and every 
 house is as clean as they can be made. Good 
 water prevails everywhere and it is freely used, 
 l^he progress that has been made in the last 
 dozen years is almost inconceivable. Free 
 schools abound all over the land, giving facili- 
 ties for every child, male and female, to get a 
 fair education. Attendance is almost compul- 
 sory between certain ages. In the cities they 
 have academies, colleges, and normal schools. 
 
 95 
 
both to prepare males and females. It has been 
 my privilege to visit at Tokio (Yeddo) their 
 military and naval academies, their school of 
 science, their college, their normal school for 
 young ladies, a very large school for children, 
 taught by female teachers prepared at the nor- 
 mal school, and other places of learning. The 
 two former compare very w^ell with our own 
 military and naval academies in course taught, 
 discipline, drill, and progress of the students. 
 A student to enter the school of science must 
 be a good English scholar, and after entering 
 all his text books and recitations are in Eng- 
 lish. 
 
 The course is six years, the last two in appli- 
 cation of what they learned in the first four. 
 A portion of each year — taking the place of 
 vacation with us — is also spent in the work- 
 shops, making parts of machinery, models of 
 engines, of looms, machinery for spinning and 
 weaving, etc., etc. Many of their teachers are 
 natives, though the studies are in English. It 
 will be but a few years before they will be able 
 to dispense with foreign instruction entirely. 
 We leave for home by the " City of Tokio," 
 which will sail from Yokohama about the 27th 
 
 96 
 
of August. I shall be glad to be settled down 
 at home. . . . 
 
 I forgot to mention that students to enter the 
 college must study English five years first, 
 making a nine-year course. Here, too, they 
 have one or two native professors. 
 
 97 
 
Itetter xVoii 
 
 Philadelphia^ Pennsylvania^ 
 December 22, 1879. 
 
 INCE my arrival here I have scarcely 
 had time to read my mail, much less 
 answer it. The people of Philadelphia 
 have shown a cordiality unsurpassed, but they 
 have kept me so constantly going that I have 
 not been able to see what the papers say about 
 it. But I suppose it is all reported. I have de- 
 termined to leave here for the South on Satur- 
 day next. I hope you can go along. I rather 
 expedl Sheridan and Fred and their wives. But 
 this is not yet certain. We will remain in 
 Washington over Sunday and Monday, so our 
 start will really be from there on Tuesday the 
 30th. I have seen Mr. DeFranch. I did not 
 look at his letters, because I had not the time, 
 and I knew what they contained from persons 
 who did see them. They amount substantially 
 to a promise of funds for the construction of a 
 canal if all the conditions are right. I expressed 
 my interest in the enterprise, and the interest 
 
 98 
 
1 had taken in it for a good many years, and 
 my willingness to aid it all I could so long as 
 it seemed to be in honest hands; but that 1 
 could give no promise of further conne6tion 
 with it than my good offices until a proper 
 concession was obtained, the money subscribed, 
 and every preliminary arranged to insure the 
 completion of the work, and then I would de- 
 termine whether I would take a more active 
 part. After all other preliminaries are arranged 
 it will take a complete working season in the 
 tropics to determine positively whether the un- 
 dertaking is entirely pradicable or not. 
 If you do not go South with us I will write 
 you again from Florida. 
 
 99 
 
JLetter xVoiii 
 
 St. Augustiney Florida^ 
 January i8, 1880. 
 
 T7 WROTE you a hasty letter from Phila- 
 delphia, but do not know whether you re- 
 *-* ceived it. Our trip through the South has 
 been, so far, without an incident to mar the 
 pleasure of it. All the way from Washington 
 the people of all classes and colors were at the 
 stations to meet the train and to extend invita- 
 tions for myself and party to stop and accept 
 their hospitalities. The business boom has 
 reached the South, and the people are begin- 
 ning to feel much better contented in conse- 
 quence. I am very much pleased with Florida. 
 The winter climate is perfedion, and I am 
 told by Northern men settled here that the 
 summers are not near so hot here as in the 
 North, though of longer continuance. This 
 State has a great future before it. It has the 
 capacity to raise all the sugar and semi-tropical 
 fruits the whole country needs, besides supply- 
 ing vast amounts of timber, early vegetables. 
 
 100 
 
nice material for paper, rope, bagging, coarse 
 matting, etc. It affords the best opening to be 
 found in any country for young men of little 
 means but full of energy, industry, and patience. 
 The impetus given already will supply in a few 
 years all the semi-tropical fruits required by the 
 country. What is now wanted is the establish- 
 ment of moderate sugar mills over the country, 
 to buy all the sugar cane small farmers will 
 furnish. The State is underlayed and has around 
 it deposits of valuable fertilizers sufficient for 
 many generations. If you do not join me in 
 Cuba I hope you will come here to spend 
 March and April. I do not doubt but you 
 would receive much benefit from the visit. 
 I will sail from Cedar Keys for Havana on the 
 20th. The Secretary of the Navy has placed 
 at Havana a vessel at my command. I think I 
 shall make an excursion to Hayti, St. Domin- 
 go, Porto Rico, and Jamaica, and swing around 
 by Yucatan, so as to reach Vera Cruz about 
 the 15th of P>bruary. When I return it will 
 be by the way of Galveston and Denver. At 
 the latter place and in Colorado generally I 
 expe(Sl to stop until the weather is pleasant in 
 Galena, say about the lOth of May. I shall be 
 
 lOI 
 
very much pleased to meet you in Havana and 
 have you go on this trip to the West Indies, 
 if you are sailor enough to enjoy the excursion. 
 
 102 
 
Jletter ;clijc 
 
 Havana^ Cuba^-^ 
 February 2, l88o. 
 
 YOUR letter of the 25th of January is 
 just received. The same mail brings 
 New York papers of the 29th, by 
 which 1 see you were in that city at that time. 
 Your letter directed to me in Washington 
 city was received there, but I negleded to 
 mention it. I see by the papers the same that 
 you mention about ... I predict that it will 
 do him no good, and as far as it may aftect me 1 
 care nothing about it. All that I want is that the 
 government rule should remain in the hands 
 of those who saved the Union until all the 
 questions growing out of the war are forever 
 settled. I would much rather any one of many 
 I could mention should be President rather 
 than that I should have it. On that subjeft I 
 stand just as I told you in Chicago. I shall not 
 gratify my enemies by declining what has not 
 been offered. I am not a candidate for any- 
 thing^, and if the Chicago convention nomi- 
 
 10-7 
 
nates a candidate who can be ele6led, it will 
 gratify me, and the gratification will be greater 
 if it should be some one other than myself. In 
 confidence I will tell you I should feel sorry 
 if it should be . . . Blaine I would like to see 
 elected, but I fear the party could not ele6t 
 him. He would create enthusiasm, but he would 
 have opposition in his own party that might 
 lose him some Northern States that the Re- 
 publicans should carry. 
 
 My reception here has been more than cordial 
 by both officials and the people. The weather 
 is sultry, just such as we run from at home in 
 the dog days. If this winter is a sample, Flor- 
 ida is a much better winter resort. 
 Please present Mrs. Grant's and my best re- 
 gards to Mrs. Washburn and your family, 
 with the same to yourself. I shall be pleased to 
 hear from you in the City of Mexico. 
 
 104 
 
Hettcr I 
 
 Galveston^ Texas ^ 
 March 25, 1880. 
 
 YOUR letter of the nth of February 
 only reached Mexico by the mail but 
 one before my departure. I was away 
 from the City of Mexico at the time on an 
 excursion to the Rio Del Monte silver mines, 
 and did not return until after the departure of 
 the steamer bringing it. Yours of the 26th of 
 February was taken by the steamer on which 
 I returned. There was no opportunity of an- 
 swering either, therefore, earlier, or so that you 
 could receive it earlier than by writing from 
 here. 
 
 In regard to your suggestion that I should 
 authorize some one to say that in no event 
 would I consent to ever being a candidate after 
 1880, I think any statement from me would 
 be misconstrued, and would only serve as a 
 handle for my enemies. Such a statement might 
 well be made after the nomination, if I am 
 nominated in such a way as to accept. It is a 
 
 05 
 
matter of supreme indifference to me whether 
 I am or not. There are many persons I would 
 prefer should have the office to myself. I owe 
 so much to the Union men of the country that 
 if they think my chances are better for elec- 
 tion than for other probable candidates in case 
 I should decline, I cannot decline if the nomi- 
 nation is tendered without seeking on my part. 
 Mexico shows many signs of progress since I 
 was there thirty-two years ago. Railroads are 
 pushing out slowly from the capital, and with 
 every advance greater prosperity and employ- 
 ment for the poor follow. I think it should be 
 the policy of our government now to cultivate 
 the strongest feelings of friendship between the 
 people of the two republics. Soon we will have 
 railroad conne6lion between the two countries, 
 and our people will begin to mix and become 
 better acquainted. Mexico can, and will, raise 
 all the tropical and semi-tropical produ£ts 
 which we now buy from countries that take 
 nothing from us in exchange, except sterling 
 exchange, and will take from us in return the 
 products of our manufacturers. Americans are 
 beginning now to work their mines. Soon they 
 will be cultivating their sugar, coffee, and to- 
 
 io6 
 
bacco plantations, running their factories, do- 
 ing their banking, etc. I go to San Antonio 
 for a day or two, thence to New Orleans, and 
 up the river to Memphis. I will probably run 
 over to Hot Springs from the latter place, to 
 absorb time until the weather in Galena be- 
 comes pleasant. I do not care to arrive there 
 before the first of May. 
 
 07 
 
NOTES 
 
 109 
 
il^OtC0 
 
 Letter 1. Note i. . , . Mr. Rawlins . . . 
 John A.Rawlins (i 831-1869), joined General Grant's 
 staff in August, 1861, and served with him to the close 
 of the rebellion. He became Secretary of War in March, 
 1869. Grant was greatly attached to him, and deeply 
 mourned his death. 
 
 Letter IL Note 2. . . . Captain A. S. Bax- 
 ter .. . 
 
 While the world was honoring General Grant on the 
 seventy-fifth anniversary of his birth, Algernon Sidney 
 Baxter ( 1 8 1 9- 1 897), one of the earliest members of his 
 staff, was dying. He was a son of the Chief Justice of 
 Vtrmont, and at the age of seventeen went to Boston, 
 the Mecca of most New England boys. When the war 
 began he was a merchant in St. Louis, where he became 
 acquainted with Grant. He immediately abandoned 
 business for the army, serving on the General's staff at 
 Fort Donelson and Shiloh, with the rank of captain. 
 At Shiloh, Baxter carried to General Lew Wallace 
 that celebrated dispatch which has caused so much dis- 
 pute. Grant, in his " Personal Memoirs," says : " Cap- 
 tain Baxter, a quartermaster on my staff, was accord- 
 ingly dire6led to go back and order General Wallace 
 to march immediately to Pittsburg by the road nearest 
 the river. Captain Baxter made a memorandum of this 
 
 III 
 
order, . . , General Wallace has since claimed that the 
 order delivered to him by the captain was simply to join 
 the right of the army." Baxter's condition of health 
 compelled him soon after to leave the service, when he 
 entered Wall Street, pursuing a successful career in the 
 great metropolis, where he died at the age of seventy- 
 eight. He was the last survivor of those who served on 
 Grant's staff in the battles of Fort Donelson and Shiloh. 
 
 Letter III. Note 3. . . . Colonel C. C. TVash- 
 burn . . . 
 
 Cadwallader Golden Washburn (18 18-1882), colonel 
 Second Wisconsin Cavalry, October 10, 18615 briga- 
 dier general, July 16, 1862 j and major general, No- 
 vember 29, 1862. After the Civil War he was elefled 
 to Congress and in 1872, became Governor of Wiscon- 
 sin. Later he was an unsuccessful candidate for the 
 United States Senate. His brother, also a Congress- 
 man, wrote the family name with a final "e," but in 
 no instance within the editor's knowledge did Grant 
 ever add that letter when writing to Mr. Washburne. 
 
 Letter IIL Note 4. . . . Clarkesville . . , 
 Suit was brought after the war for about one hundred 
 and fifty thousand dollars by the owners of whiskey in 
 Clarkesville, destroyed as a matter of precaution by a 
 chosen committee, to prevent its falling into the hands of 
 the vi6lorious Northern army, said to be advancing on 
 the town, — its commander being reported as intoxi- 
 cated, and utterly unable to control his troops. The 
 
 112 
 
owners brought suit in 1865 against the members oF 
 the committee, consisting of the wealthiest citizens 
 of the town. At the first trial the jury disagreed as to 
 whether Grant was drunk or sober, the decision in the 
 case turning on that point ; in the second the verdi6l 
 was that the commander was intoxicated, and on the 
 third trial that he was perfe6lly sober, so that the com- 
 mittee finally lost their case and were compelled to pay, 
 but not the full value of the whiskey, as the parties 
 compromised the case, receiving about twenty per cent. 
 of its value. This statement was received in August, 
 1897, by the writer, from a United States Distri6l 
 Judge of Tennessee, who was one of the counsel em- 
 ployed in the curious case. 
 
 Letter V. Note 5. . . . /;; our present 
 cause. 
 
 About the same period the General says In a letter to 
 his father: "You must not expe6l me to write in my 
 own defence, nor to permit it from any one about me. 
 I know that the feeling of the troops under my com- 
 mand is favorable to me, and so long as I continue to 
 do my duty faithfully it will remain so, I require no de- 
 fenders," In his second inaugural address Grant gave 
 expression to his sense of the injustice done to him by 
 shameful and vlndl6llve criticism, saying In conclusion, 
 "Throughout the war and from my candidacy to the 
 present office, in 1868, to the close of the last presiden- 
 tial campaign, I have been the subje6l of abuse and 
 slander, scarcely ever equalled in political history, which 
 
 113 
 
to-day I feel that I can afford to disregard, in view of 
 your verdi6l, which I most gratefully accept as my vin- 
 dication." 
 
 Letter VII. A^5/^ 6. . . . Colonel Ransom. 
 Thomas E. G. Ransom (1834-1864), major Eleventh 
 Illinois Infantry, July 30, 1861 j colonel, February 15, 
 1862} and brigadier general, November 29, 1862. He 
 was among the most gallant of our young volunteer 
 officers of the Army of the Tennessee. 
 
 Letter VIII. Note 7. . . . Mr. Leonard 
 Swett . . . 
 
 Leonard Swett (1825-1889), a successful Illinois lawyer 
 and an intimate friend of President Lincoln, made the 
 nomination speech for the latter in the Chicago Con- 
 vention of i860, which the writer happened to hear, 
 and in 1887 he delivered the oration at the unveiling 
 of the Lincoln Statue in Chicago. During the war Mr. 
 Swett had charge of a large number of cases for the 
 Government, earning a high reputation both as a civil 
 and as a criminal lawyer. He said to Grant at Cairo, " We 
 are the lowest bidders and insist upon having the con- 
 trail} if not, the matter will be placed before the Presi- 
 dent;" to which the General calmly replied, "I shall 
 buy the hay in open market at a lower rate than you 
 offer it, and will transport the hay on your road [the 
 Illinois Central], of which I shall take immediate pos- 
 session." Grant then added, " If I find you in this mili- 
 tary distrift at the expiration of twenty-four hours, you 
 
 II, 
 
will be imprisoned and probably shot." Hastening to 
 Washington the indignant la\v)'er laid the matter be- 
 fore Lincoln, who said, "Well, Swett, if I were in your 
 place, I should keep out of Ulysses Simpson's baili- 
 wick, for to the best of my knowledge and belief Grant 
 will keep his promise if he catches you in Cairo. In 
 faa, Leonard, you had better 'take to de woods,' as 
 the colored brother remarked." Mr. Swett, who in later 
 years became one of the General's greatest admirers, 
 and who was one of the 306 that strongly urged 
 Grant's nomination for a presidential third term, told 
 this stor>' as here related by the present writer. 
 
 Letter X. Note 8. . . . Senator Jf^ilson . . . 
 Henry Wilson of Massachusetts (1812-1875), who m 
 1872 was clcfted Vice-President of the United States 
 on the ticket with General Grant. 
 
 Letter X. AW 9. . . . Dana . . . 
 
 Charles A. Dana (18 19-1 897), Assistant Secretary of 
 War, and late editor of the New York Sun. 
 
 Letter X. AW 10. . . . Malthy . . . 
 
 Jasper A. Maltby (1826-1867), lieutenant colonel 
 Forty-fifth Illinois Infantry, August, 18615 colonel, 
 November 29, 1862, and brigadier general, August 4, 
 1863. 
 
 Letter XIL Note 11. . . . Our troops be- 
 haved most magnificently^ and have infilled on 
 
 115 
 
the enemy the heaviest blow they have received 
 during the war. 
 
 "After having broken the impedimenta which closed 
 the passage of the Mississippi, it is again Grant," writes 
 the Count of Paris of the viftory at Chattanooga, "who 
 has just opened the doors of Georgia. The Federal 
 armies have at last found the warrior worthy to lead 
 them. The bold and skilful manoeuvres which began 
 in the valley of Lookout Mountain, and terminated a 
 month later near the spot where Bragg and Davis had 
 contemplated a Union army besieged at their feet, en- 
 hance the glory of the conqueror of Vicksburg. He has 
 proved that his mind, powerful to conceive, firm to exe- 
 cute, is fertile In resources at the critical time." 
 
 Letter XVI. Note 12. 
 
 This cipher dispatch Is included among the Grant- 
 Washburne correspondence, and was probably sent to 
 the latter by the General at the same time that the 
 original was telegraphed to the President. 
 
 Letter XX. Note i^^. ... the completion of 
 
 the medal . . . 
 
 Presented to General Grant by Congress for the cap- 
 ture of Vicksburg and opening the Mississippi River 
 from Cairo to the Gulf of Mexico ; also for his great 
 viftory at Chattanooga. 
 
 Letter XXIL Note 14 Mr. Stuart . . . 
 
 George Hay Stuart (1816-1890), an opulent merchant 
 
 116 
 
and philanthropist, of Philadelphia, who was twice 
 otfered a position in General Grant's Cabinet. 
 
 Letter XXV. Note 15. . . . General 
 D'lx . . . 
 
 John Adams Dix (1798- 1879). Nominated as United 
 States Minister to France. 
 
 Letter XXV. Note 16. . . . that ever ema- 
 nated from any President. 
 
 The quarrel between President Johnson and the Re- 
 publican majority in Congress was at this time at its 
 height. Every bill vetoed by the President was passed 
 over his veto. 
 
 Letter XXV. Note 17. Jerry Black . . . 
 Jeremiah S. Black (18 10-188 3), Attorney General in 
 Buchanan's Cabinet, and the successor of General Cass 
 as Secretary of State. 
 
 Letter XXVIILA^^/^ 18. . . . In accepting 
 it I do so with regret that your health will not 
 permit you to continue in the office or in some 
 Cabinet position. 
 
 Mr. Washburne was soon after appointed by General 
 Grant American Minister to France. During the siege 
 of Paris he remained at his post when many of the 
 representatives of other powers fled from the city. 
 
 117 
 
Letter XXIX. Note 19. . . . Hon. J, F. 
 
 Wilson . . . 
 
 James F. Wilson (1828-1895), for two terms United 
 
 States Senator from Iowa. 
 
 Letter XXX. Note 20. . . . McCulloch . . . 
 
 The Hon. Hugh McCulloch (1808-18 9 5), Secretary of 
 the Treasury in the administrations of Lincoln, John- 
 son and Arthur. 
 
 Letter XXXV. Note 21. . . . Curtin . . . 
 
 Andrew Gregg Curtin (1817-1894), was appointed 
 Minister to Russia by General Grant in 1869. On his 
 return in 1872 he earnestly supported Horace Greeley 
 for the presidency. 
 
 Letter XXXV. Note 22. . . . might also be 
 added to the doubtful States. 
 
 Mr. Greeley (181 1-1872), carried only the six States of 
 Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Tennessee, 
 and Texas. 
 
 Letter XLIX. Note 23. Havana., Cuba. 
 Replying to an inquiry concerning the defences of 
 Havana, the General in a communication to a friend 
 writes a few years after the date of his letter from Cuba : 
 "On my visit to Havana three years ago, I had an 
 opportunity of seeing the forts and the armament. Both 
 are formidable, and with additions that could easily be 
 
 118 
 
made before any country could attack them, impreg- 
 nable from direft attack. But I should not regard Ha- 
 vana as a difficult place to capture with a combined 
 army and navy. It would have to be done, however, by 
 effe6ling a landing elsewhere and cutting off land com- 
 munications with the army, while the navy would per- 
 form the same service on the water. The hostility of 
 the native population to the Spanish authority would 
 make this a comparatively easy task for any first-class 
 power, and especially easy for the United States in case 
 of a war with Spain." 
 
 119 
 
INDEX 
 
 121 
 
31ntiejc 
 
 Adams, CharUs Francis 
 Adams, Airs. CharUs Francis 
 Allen, Robert 
 American people 
 Anderson, Robert 
 Army of the Tennessee 
 Arthur, Chester A. 
 
 iJangkok, Siam 
 Baxter, Algernon S. 
 Black, "Jeremiah S. 
 Blaine, James G. 
 Blair, Francis P. 11^ 
 Bombay, India . 
 Bragg, Braxton 
 British Rule in India 
 Bowers, Theodore S. 
 Broivn, Joseph E. 
 Buchanan s Cabinet 
 
 Cjabinet position 
 Cairo, Illinois 
 Calais, France . 
 
 123 
 
Call for Troops . 
 
 . . 36 
 
 Canton^ China . 
 
 • 93 
 
 Carlyle^ Thomas . 
 
 X 
 
 Cass^ Lewis 
 
 . 117 
 
 Cedar Keys^ Florida 
 
 . lOI 
 
 Christian Commission . 
 
 . . 4« 
 
 Chattanooga^ Battle of 
 
 31,116 
 
 Chattanooga^ Tennessee 
 
 • 30, 31,32 
 
 Chicago Convention 
 
 . 114 
 
 Chicago Nominations . 
 
 . 103 
 
 Chinese Ports 
 
 • 90 
 
 Christmas^ 1865 
 
 • 49 
 
 Cincinnati Convention 
 
 . . 69 
 
 Civil War, 1861-65 . 
 
 . 112 
 
 City of Mexico . 
 
 104, 105 
 
 City ofTokio 
 
 . . 96 
 
 City Point, Virginia . 36, 
 
 37,38,41,43,45 
 
 Clarkesville, Tennessee 
 
 5,112 
 
 Cold Harbor, Virginia 
 
 • 34 
 
 Colorado 
 
 . lOI 
 
 Confederate Government 
 
 . 16 
 
 Confederate States 
 
 . 28 
 
 Covington, Kentucky . 
 
 14, 15 
 
 Corinth, Mississippi . 
 
 10, 13 
 
 Corpus Christi, Texas . 
 
 . 92 
 
 Culpepper Court House 
 
 • 33 
 
 124 
 
r- 
 
 Cumberland River 
 
 7 
 
 
 Curious Trial . • • • 
 
 . 112 
 
 
 Curtin^ Andrew G. . 
 
 71,118 
 
 
 Davis, J. C. Bancroft 
 
 . 82 
 
 
 Davis, Jefferson 
 
 116 
 
 
 De Franc h, Mr. 
 
 . 98 
 
 
 Democratic Party 
 
 75,81 
 
 
 Demcratic Success 
 
 66 
 
 
 Dickey, T. Lyle . . ■ - 
 
 • ^3 ! 
 
 
 Dix, John Ada?ni 
 
 52, 117 
 
 
 Divided North . ■ • ■ 
 
 . 3« 
 
 
 Dodge, IVillliam E. . 
 
 58 
 
 
 Done/son, Fort . . . 4i 
 
 b. III, 112 
 
 
 iLastern Raihvay Company 
 
 . 80 
 
 
 East Tennessee . 
 
 • 57 
 
 
 English in India 
 
 . 90 
 
 
 European Tour . 
 
 . 65 
 
 
 Federal Armies 
 
 . 116 
 
 
 Fifteenth Amendment 
 
 • H 
 
 
 First Class Powers 
 
 ' 119 
 
 
 Florida, Climate of 
 
 . 100 
 
 
 Fortieth Congress 
 
 60 
 
 
 Franco-German War 
 
 68 
 
 
 Frankfort, Germany . 
 
 81,83 
 
 
 Fremont, John C. 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 125 
 
CjalenOy lilt 
 
 nois 
 
 Galveston^ Texas 
 Georgetown^ D. C. 
 Gladstone^ IVilliam E. 
 Grenada^ Mississippi . 
 Grant, Frederick D. . 
 Grant at Cairo . 
 Grant, Anecdote of 
 Grant, Mrs. Julia D. 
 Grant^s Cabinet 
 Grant's Gold Medal . 
 Grant"* s Nomination . 
 Grant, U. S. vii, viii, ix, 
 Grant-JVashburne Letters 
 Great Commanders 
 Greeley, Horace 
 Greeleyites, The . 
 Grinnell, Moses H. 
 Gulf of Mexico . 
 
 Halleck, Henry W. 
 Havana, Cuba . .93, 
 
 Havana easily taken 
 Hong-Kong, China 
 Hooker, Joseph . 
 
 47,48,50,57,73, 
 93,94,101,^07 
 lOI 
 
 48 
 
 ix 
 22 
 98 
 
 ^4,115 
 
 114 
 
 45,80,85,104 
 
 III, 112, I 
 
 117 
 
 116 
 
 115 
 
 3,116 
 116 
 
 viii 
 
 69,70,72,73,118 
 71 
 58 
 116 
 
 8,9,15,27 
 [01, 102, 103, 118 
 . Ill 
 90, 92, 95 
 • 31 
 
 126 
 
Hruulett House . . • • 
 
 44 
 
 Hunter^ David 
 
 24 
 
 Illinois Central Railway 
 
 . 114 
 
 Illinois Infantry^ Eleventh . 
 
 16, 114 
 
 Illinois Infantry, Forty-Ji/th 
 
 . 115 
 
 luka. Battle of . 
 
 22 
 
 Japanese, The . . • 
 
 viii 
 
 James River . . . • 
 
 43 
 
 Jefferson City, Missouri 
 
 I 
 
 Jo Daveiss County 
 
 . 48 
 
 Johnson, Andrew . • S^^ 
 
 57,^17,118 
 
 Johnson, Reverdy 
 
 • 53 
 
 Jones, J. Russell 
 
 53,54 
 
 Judah, General . 
 
 • 13 
 
 La Grange, Tennessee 
 
 . 18 
 
 Lee's Virginia Army . 
 
 • 35 
 
 Lieutenant-General . 
 
 • 33 
 
 Lincoln, Abraham . • viii, 
 
 36, 114,115 
 
 Lincoln, Anecdote of . 
 
 . 115 
 
 Lincoln Administration 
 
 . 118 
 
 Lincoln Statue Address 
 
 . 114 
 
 Liverpool, England . 
 
 . 77 
 
 London . . • • 
 
 . 77,79,80 
 
 Long Branch, N.J.. 
 
 . 71,74,85 
 
 Lookout Mountain 
 
 
 
 31,116 
 
 127 
 
McClellan, George B. 
 
 8 
 
 McCuUoch, Hugh 
 
 63,118 
 
 McGarrahan Claim . 
 
 60, 61 
 
 McPherson^ James B. 
 
 24,25 
 
 Malthy^ Jasper A. . . . 
 
 28,115 
 
 Maryland Raid 
 
 • 37 
 
 Meade^ George G. . 
 
 • 41 
 
 Memphis^ Tennessee . 
 
 16,22,107 
 
 Mexico progressing 
 
 . 106 
 
 Mexican Settlers 
 
 • 92 
 
 Mississippi River 
 
 . 116 
 
 Missionary Ridge 
 
 • 3^ 
 
 Milwaukee^ PTisconsin 
 
 4 
 
 Napoleon the Third . 
 
 64,68 
 
 Nashville^ Tennessee . 
 
 5 
 
 New England Boys 
 
 . Ill 
 
 New Orleans^ Louisiana 
 
 55, 107 
 
 New York City . 
 
 • 49 
 
 New Torkers 
 
 . . 58 
 
 New York Papers 
 
 . 103 
 
 NikkOy Japan . 
 
 . 94 
 
 North and South 
 
 . 28 
 
 North American Review 
 
 viii 
 
 Northern Army . 
 
 . 112 
 
 Northern Illinois 
 
 . 30 
 
 128 
 
November Elediions 
 
 72,73,88 
 
 Old England . 
 
 . 
 
 • 89 
 
 O^iober EleSiiom 
 
 . 
 
 . 57 
 
 1 acific Coast 
 
 
 . 86 
 
 Parisj Count of . 
 
 
 . 116 
 
 Parii 
 
 77,79,8 
 
 3,82,83,86 
 
 Paris^ Siege of . 
 
 
 • 117 
 
 Peace Friends 
 
 
 • 39 
 
 Pekin, China 
 
 
 90, 93, 94 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 
 
 • 71 
 
 Personal Memoirs 
 
 
 . I II 
 
 Philadelphia Cordiality 
 
 . 98 
 
 Philadelphia^ Pennsylvania . 
 
 • 47,86,98 
 
 Pittsburg Landing 
 
 . Ill 
 
 Pope^ John 
 
 . 14 
 
 Porto Rico 
 
 . lOI 
 
 Potomac^ Army of the . 
 
 • 27 
 
 Potomac River . 
 
 II 
 
 PrentisSy Benjamin M, 
 
 2 
 
 Presidential Candidate 
 
 . 105 
 
 Prussian King . 
 
 . 68 
 
 ixanson^ Thomas E. G. 
 
 17,114 
 
 Rawlins^ John A. 
 
 1,24,29,45, 
 
 
 62, 66, 1 1 1 
 
 Reconstruction Measures 
 
 52,55 
 
 129 
 
Republican Administration ... 74 
 
 Republican Party 
 
 
 . 66 
 
 Repudiationists . 
 
 
 • 75 
 
 Richmond^ Virginia . 
 
 
 • 36 
 
 Rio del Monte . 
 
 
 . 105 
 
 Rosecrans^ William S. 
 
 
 22 
 
 Ot. Augustine^ Florida 
 
 
 . 100 
 
 San Antonio^ Texas 
 
 
 92, 107 
 
 San Antonio River 
 
 
 
 • 92 
 
 San Domingo 
 
 
 
 . lOI 
 
 San Francisco 
 
 
 
 86, 90, 93 
 
 Saratoga^ New York 
 
 
 
 . 62 
 
 Savannah^ Tennessee . 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 Scott, Winfield . 
 
 
 
 • 37 
 
 Semi-tropical Fruits . 
 
 
 
 . 106 
 
 Seventeenth Corps 
 
 
 
 . 34 
 
 Shanghai, China 
 
 
 
 90, 93 
 
 Sheridan, Philip H. 
 
 
 
 55,98 
 
 Sherman, William T. 
 
 
 
 34, 50 
 
 Shiloh, Battle of 
 
 
 
 III, 112 
 
 Singapore Settlements 
 
 
 
 . . 89 
 
 Slave- Hunters . 
 
 
 
 . 40 
 
 Sixteenth Corps . 
 
 
 
 • 34 
 
 Slocum, Henry W. 
 
 
 
 • 34 
 
 Southern Leaders 
 
 
 
 . 66 
 
 Spanish Authority 
 
 
 
 . 119 
 
 130 
 

 
 Spain^ IVar with 
 
 . 119 
 
 Staff Officers . • • • 
 
 • 33 
 
 , 13, ^5,66 
 
 Stanton^ Edwin M. . • ^'i' 
 
 Stephens^ Alexajuler II. 
 
 . 28 
 
 Strwart^ Alexander T. 
 
 . 58 
 
 Stuart^ George H. . ■ 
 
 48,116 
 
 Supreme Court^ United States 
 
 • H 
 
 Swett^ Leonard . . • • 
 
 18,21, 114 
 
 Switzerland 
 
 77w9, 81 
 
 Tennessee River 
 
 . 7, II 
 
 Tokio (Teddo) . . • . 
 
 . 96 
 
 Torhert, Alfred T. A. 
 
 II 
 
 Trumbull^ Lyman 
 
 • 70 
 
 United States . - • • 
 
 83,119 
 
 V era Crux^ Mexico . 
 
 . lOI 
 
 yicksburg^ Conqueror of 
 
 . 116 
 
 Ficksburg^ Mississippi 
 
 ^7, 34 
 
 Jvallace^ Lewis 
 
 111,112 
 
 Wallace, JV. H. L. . 
 
 • 13 
 
 IVar Administration 
 
 74 
 
 Washburn, Cadwallader C. 4, 24, 
 
 ,26,34, 112 
 
 IVashhurne, Elihu B. . 
 
 . VII, 117 
 
 Washburne, Hempstead 
 
 . vii, 5 
 
 Washburne, Mrs. E. B. 46, 49 
 
 ,64,85, 104 
 
 
 
 
 13 
 
■ =^^z:^=_^: ,1 
 
 IVashington, D. C. 14, 43, 45, 4} 
 
 \ 49, 52, 57, 
 
 59, 60, 62, 64, 66, 69, 
 
 73, 100, 103 
 
 IVashington^ George . 
 
 ix 
 
 West Indies 
 
 
 . 102 
 
 Western Tennessee 
 
 
 . 16 
 
 White House 
 
 
 • 52 
 
 Wilson^ Henry . 
 
 
 .27,41,115 
 
 Wilson^ James F. 
 
 
 . 60, 61, 118 
 
 Wilson^ James H. 
 
 
 • 24 
 
 Wisconsin Cavalry^ Second 
 
 
 . 112 
 
 I ates^ Richard . 
 
 
 • 30 
 
 Tazoo PasSy Mississippi 
 
 
 23,24 
 
 Taxoo River 
 
 
 24,26 
 
 Yokohama^ Japan 
 
 
 93,96 
 
 Toung^ John Russell . 
 
 
 • 90 
 
 Young s Pointy Mississippi . 
 
 
 • 23 
 
 132 
 
Printed for Thomas V. Crowell and Company, by 
 
 D. B. Updike, The Merrymount Press 
 
 104 Chestnut Street, Boston