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SKETCHES OF THE LIYES AND SERVICES 
 
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 Ulysses S. Grant and Schuyler Colfax, 
 
 NATIONAL P.EPXTCLICAN CANDIDATES FOR 
 
 PEESIDEIIT AND VIOE PEESIDEHT OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 ULYSSES S. G-RA.N'T. 
 
 It is not surprising that great military- 
 leaders in all ages and among every people 
 should have been rewarded with the high- 
 est public honors. Aside from the fact that 
 the heroic qualities essential to military 
 success are of all qualities the most uni- 
 versally admired, there is the more cogent 
 reason that no other public benofac'ors put 
 a nation under such direct and mmifest 
 obligations. The benefits conferred by the 
 writer, the man of science, the inventor or 
 the promoter of the useful arts, may some- 
 times be more valuable than those confer- 
 red by the victorious militar}' chicftan ; but 
 when the successes of the latter are 
 achieved in the service of liberty, or in de- 
 fense of the very existence of a nation, they 
 transcend all other forms of public bene- 
 faction. Advancement in art, science, 
 literature and material wealth, brings with 
 it inestimable blessings, but the freedom 
 of a people and their independent national 
 existence are the broad foundation upon 
 which all other blessings rest. When these 
 are assailed by either a foreign or domestic 
 foe, and a nation, after mustering all its 
 forces, tinds its strength so equally matched 
 that its fate trembles in the balance with 
 the progress of the doubtful struggle, the 
 man who calmly, courageously and skill- 
 fully direct » its f trenous efforts to a success- 
 
 ful issue, confers a boon which a century 
 of peaceful services could not balance, and 
 engraves his name forever upon the mem- 
 ory of his people. 
 
 Our own country has not been wantifig 
 in gratitude to its military chieftains. 
 Wasliington, Jackson, Taylor, Harrison 
 and Pierce, have all been elected to the 
 highest office in the gift of the people. In- 
 deed we have been not only grateful but 
 generous in this respect, measuring the 
 services of our heroes ratlicr by the patriotic 
 spirit in Avhich they were rendered than 
 by the pressure of our need for them, or 
 even their intrinsic value. Since the war 
 for iudcpendeuce, in wliich Washington 
 earned the affectionate title he will always 
 bear, that of the "Father of his country," 
 we liave been involved in no struggle by. 
 which our national life was really imperil- 
 led until the breaking out of the late rebel- 
 lion. Yet we have very properly remem- 
 bered and rewarded the elTorts of tiiose 
 who in less critical conjunctures advanced 
 the national interests and vindicated the 
 national honor. 
 
 But in history the great rebellion of 1861 
 -5 will take rank with the revolutionary- 
 war as to its vital bearing on the nation's 
 fate. Like that it was a life and death 
 struggle, and the heroes who contributed 
 most to bring it to a successful issue will be 
 among those who will live longest in the 
 memory of posterity. Their services are 
 of that order which a nation cannot afford 
 to overlook To do so would not merely 
 be deep ingratitude ; it would be an ex- 
 ample whose injurious effects upon tL'> 
 martial spirit of our people would be felt 
 for all time to come. 
 
 But there is no danger that our history 
 will be defaced by such a record. Already ; 
 the party which during the war was the - 
 party of the Government as against its rel)el. 
 foes has nominated as its candidate for the. 
 Presidency the most illustrious Comman- 
 der of the Union Armies, General Ulysses- 
 S. Grant, Hi3 election in November next.- 
 
 I {. 
 
2' 
 
 is ns Mirc OS that the nrmics of the Union 
 Mvc tr umjhed over the armies of treason; 
 S >v iU n.is mark of national .eratUudc 
 ^••,11 1.0 a niting trilmte to the valo .k 
 and r:>tH..tim of Grncra Grant, it vdl 
 plnnl the seeds of future victories and lay 
 1,0 f..uu<lation for future national glory 
 throud. the ineentive to the cul ivation 
 of similar qualities, vhich.it ^n'11 carry 
 down to successive generations ot Amer- 
 
 '^"The nibiect of our brief sketch was born 
 on the 27111 of April, 1822 The place of 
 his nativity was Point Pleasant, on the 
 western bank of the Ohio river, now a vil- 
 lace of about four hundred inhabitants, 
 about twentv-five miles above Cincinnati 
 His father," Jesse Root Grant moved 
 thither from Pennsylvania nearly ball a 
 century ago, the place being then but a 
 frontier settlement. The boy Ulysses rc- 
 ceivrd the rudiments of his education at the 
 village school of Georgetown, Brown coun- 
 ty, Ohio, about tweutj; miles from the 
 p'lace of his nativity, whither his parents 
 moved when he was about a year old. As 
 a hoy, it is commonly said that he was in 
 no way remarkable, and yet looking back 
 we find that numerous incidents of his juve- 
 nile life which have been preserved in 
 the memories of those who knew him, 
 reveal clearly enough the great qualities 
 which have since shed such lustre on his 
 name, and conferred upon his country ser- 
 vices never to be forfrotten. 
 
 Amonir the stories told of him as a boy 
 is one which is sufllciently illustrative of 
 his character. His father sent him with a 
 team to fetch a load of logs from the 
 woods, where he was to find some men 
 who were to put on his load. lie found 
 the logs but did not find the men. lie did 
 not turn round and drive back without 
 them, nor did he sit down and wait for the 
 men, but set his wits to work to devise a 
 way to get the load on himself, and through 
 some ingenious mechanical contrivance he 
 succeeded. In this net wc can see at once 
 the energy, the skill to adapt means to 
 ends, and the patient perseverance in the 
 nxccul on of a pliin, which shines in the 
 history of ihe great military commander. 
 
 In ISoJ) Grant, then seventeen years old, 
 entered the military academy at West 
 Point. Of his radetdife there is little to 
 be said, save tliat he parsed creditably 
 thnmch the course of studios pursued at 
 that institution. As n proof that his fond- 
 ness for horses had not al)ated, it may be 
 nienlii'iied that he attained tiie reputation 
 of being the best rider in his class. In 
 1843 he graduated in the same class with 
 Ocn«-ral W. B. Franklin, General J. T. 
 Quimby, General .T. J. Beynolds, General 
 C. ('. Augur, General C'. S. Hamilton, 
 General F. Steele, General Rufus Ingalls, 
 and General H. M. .Tudnh. No second 
 lieutenancy being vacant at the time of his 
 graduation, be was commissioned Brevet 
 
 Second Lieutenant in the 4th U. S_. Infan- 
 try After some two years' service with 
 his'repiment on the frontier, he accompa- 
 nied it to Texas, wliithcr it was onleredin 
 1845 at the bctrinning of our troubles with 
 Mexico. He served all through the IMexi- 
 can Avar, participating in all its imponant 
 battles save that of Buena Vista— iii all, in 
 short, as one of his eulogists observes, in 
 which any one man could be." His first 
 en<-a<'cmcnt was that of Palo Alio, fought 
 unde? command of General Taylor, on the 
 8th of May, 1840. There is one of his ex- 
 ploits during tliis war which ought not to 
 be omitted in this connection. At Monte- 
 rey the brigade with which he served had 
 nearly exhausted its amnmnition. They 
 were in the heart of the city, fi'om which 
 there was no egress but through a narrow 
 street, the houses on one side of which 
 were held by the Mexicans, who fired from 
 the windows and the roofs. Some one 
 must make his exit through this street and 
 CO to Walnut Springs, a distance of four 
 miles, for ammunition. It was eo perilous 
 an adventure that the General in Command 
 hesitated to order any one to undertake it, 
 and called for some one to volunteer. 
 Lieutenant Grant offered his services. 
 Throwing himself upon a fleet horse, and 
 adopting an expedient he had learned of 
 the Indians during his frontier life, he 
 caught his foot in the crupper of his saddle, 
 and" grasping the mane with his hands, 
 hung upon the side of his horse farthest 
 from the Mexicans, and then spurring the 
 animal to its utmost speed, safely ran the 
 gauntlet. In an hour he returned with the 
 desired nmmunitiou and an esccrt. He 
 was repeatedly mentioned in the reports 
 of his commanding officers for meritorious 
 conduct ; was appointed first lieutenant in' 
 the field for gallantry at Molino Del Rey, 
 and brevetted captain for meritorious con- 
 duct in the battle of Chepultepec. 
 
 In 1848, after the Mexican war, Oapt. 
 Grant married a Miss Dent, from near St. 
 Louis, and for s;?yeral years lived in the 
 monotonous routine of the peace estab- 
 lishment; at Detroit, at Sackett's Harbor, 
 and in Oregon. 
 
 His full commission as captain reached 
 him in August, 1853, but in 18.74, having 
 made up his mind tiiat there was to be a 
 long peace, he resigned his captaincy and 
 set about establishing himself in civil life. 
 His first atlenipt was to mai'a're a small 
 farm to the south-west of St. Louis, where 
 he used tn cut wood and liaul it to Carou- 
 delet, delivering it himself. He diversified 
 his year during summer, with acting as 
 a collector of debts in that region. But 
 there is nothing to show that lu^ enjoj^ed 
 either wood cutting or dunnin/, and he 
 certainly did not grow rich at I ;u m. In 
 1859, he tried in vain to get (!'e appoiut- 
 ment of county engineer ; an<l he then 
 went into the leather trade, in partnership 
 with his father, at Galma. Tiw ih-ui quick- 
 
ly attained high standing for intelligence 
 and integrity, and the business, at the 
 ^ . breaking out of the war, was prosperous. 
 It is narrated that Grant's determination 
 to enter the service against the rebellion 
 :; was taken and stated along with the draw- 
 ^ ing on of liis coat, instantly upon reading 
 the telegram which announced the surren- 
 der of bumter. He came into the store in 
 ^ the morning, read the dispatch, and as he 
 took up his coat, whicli he had laid off, 
 and put it on again, he observed in his 
 quiet way, "The government educated me 
 for the army, and although I have served 
 through one war, I am still a little in debt 
 to the government, and willing to dis- 
 charge the obligation." 
 
 Grant, bringing with him a company of 
 ■ volunteers that he had enlisted, in a few 
 days appeared in the couucil-chamber of 
 Governor Yates, of Illinois, and tendered 
 bis services to the country as volunteer. 
 The Governor immediately proposed to 
 place him on his own staff, as mustering 
 oflQcer of volunteers. 
 
 Grant's brigadier's commission reached 
 Iiim August 9th, 1861, and his first service 
 under it was, a march to Irontou, in Mis- 
 souri, for the purpose of preventing an at- 
 tack from the rebel Jeff Thompson. 
 
 Soon after this he was placed in com 
 mand at the great central point of Cairo, 
 which was the key of the West. 
 
 One of his first acts was the capture of 
 Paducah, a strong post on the Ohio River, 
 near the mouth of the Tennessee River, in 
 Kentuc'ivy, by which he at once gained 
 possession of interior navigable waters, 
 which the traitors had been using for their 
 own purposes. The strength and decision 
 with which he took possession of the town 
 intimidated all rebel sympathizers. 
 
 The remainder of Gen. Grant's military 
 career must be narrated with a brevity wliich 
 by no means does justice to the subject. 
 It may be said to consist of five campaigns ; 
 thos,e of Fort Donelson, Corinth and 
 luka, Vicksburg, Cliattanooga, and Rich- 
 mond. Of these each pointed out its com- 
 mander as the best man for the next, until 
 by simple upward gravitation of natural 
 fitness, he rose to the exalted position of 
 General of all the Armies of the United 
 States. 
 
 Grant's operations in Northern Missouri, 
 his dash on Belmont, and his seizure of 
 Paducah, though all creditable military 
 services, were thrown into the shade by 
 the brilliant Fort Donelson campaign, 
 which opened the career of Union successes 
 ill the West. 
 
 Tlie Fort Donelson expedition was in- 
 tended to break in two the rebel defensive 
 line, which stretched the whole length of 
 the State of Kentucky, from Columbus on 
 the Mississippi, through Bowling Green, 
 to Cumberland Gap. On this line, the 
 rebels, under General A.S. Johnston, stood 
 looking northward with threatening and 
 
 defiant aspect. Grant saw that if ho could 
 seize Forts Henry and Donelson, which 
 had been built to shut up the Tonaessce 
 and Cumberland rivers, the Uninn gun- 
 boats could range up and down through 
 the heart of rebeldom, and the Union 
 armies with them, and that thus the great 
 rebel defensive line, cut through in the 
 middle, would be broken as a chain is 
 when a link is destroyed. He tlierefore 
 asked leave of Ms immediate superior, Hal- 
 leck, to take the forts ; received it, con- 
 certed his plan of attack with Admiral 
 Foote, and moved from Cairo, February 
 2d, 1802. Tlie success of this expedition 
 is well known. It should be recorded, 
 however, even in this short summary, that 
 to Grant is due the credit of possessing the 
 military tact and promptness that showed 
 him when to make tlie decisive attack, anJ 
 impelled him to do it. 
 
 At daylight on Sunday, the 16th, Gen. 
 Buckner, (whose two superior officers, 
 Floyd and Pillow, had run away,) sent a 
 flag of truce asking for commissioners to 
 consider terms of capitulation. Grant re- 
 plied by the bearer, in a letter, two ol 
 whose phrases have become permanent 
 contributions to tire proverbial part of the 
 English language : 
 
 " Yours of this date, proposing an armis 
 tice, and appointment of commissioners to 
 settle terms of capitulation, is just received. 
 No terms other than unconditional and 
 immediate surrender can be accepted. I 
 propose to move immediately upon your 
 works." 
 
 Immediately after Donelson, Grant was 
 made major general of volunteers by com- 
 mission dated on the day of the fall of the 
 fort, and was placed in command of the 
 "Militaiy District of West Tennessee," 
 consisting of a long triangle with its north- 
 ern point at Cairo, its base at the South- 
 on the Mississippi State line, and its sides 
 the Tennessee and Mississippi rivers. 
 Thus promoted. Grant had already pushed 
 southward. Foote's gunboats ascended 
 the Cumberland, the troops kept abreast of 
 them ; Clarksville, with twenty days' sub- 
 sistence for Grant's whole army, was oc- 
 cupied on February 20th, four days after 
 the capture of Donelson ; and on the 23d, 
 the advance of Buell's army, operating in 
 conjunction with Grant's, entered Nash- 
 ville. 
 
 When the rebel military line already 
 mentioned, running lengthwise of the 
 State of Kentucky, was broken up by 
 Grant's getting through and behind it at 
 Fort Donelson, the rebel leaders sought to 
 hold another east and west hue, coinciding 
 nearly witli the southern line of Tennessee, 
 along the important Memphis and Charles- 
 ton Railroad, and their commander in the 
 West, Albert Sydney Johnston, set about 
 concentrating his forces at Corinth, oa that 
 road. Halleck, by this time commanding 
 the whole DepaTtment of the Mississippi, 
 
now prepared to attack Coriutb. It was 
 with this desigu that Grant's army -was 
 epnt up the Tcmiessec, and encamped at 
 Shiloh. But the rebels did not wait to be 
 attaclied. They advanced themselves, 
 ^vilh the bold and judicious design of beat- 
 in-T the army at Shiloh, and then of march- 
 ing northward, regaining all the ground 
 they hud lost, and retaliating by an inva- 
 sion of the States north of the Ohio. 
 
 This hardy attempt was well nigh suc- 
 cossfu!. The night before the battle of 
 Shiloh, Beauregard, as the rebel council of 
 war separated, had prophesied: "To-mor- 
 row night we sleep in the enemy's 
 
 camp" , , ,-, 
 
 When the rebels first attacked. Grant 
 was at Savannah, seven miles down the 
 river. Hastening back, be was on tlie 
 field at the earliest possible moment, and 
 did whatever could be done to withstand 
 the tremendous force of the rebel advance. 
 When Buell came upon the held toward 
 night, the aspect of alfairs so struck him 
 that his first inquiry of Grant was, wnat 
 preparations he had made for retreat. 
 
 "I have not despaired of whipping them 
 yet," was the thoroughly characteristic 
 reply. One account adds, that when Buell 
 urged that a prudent general ought to pro- 
 vide for posibllities of defeat, aud repeated 
 his inquiry. Grant pointed to his transports 
 and said, "Don't you see those boats?" 
 "Yes," said Buell, "but they will not 
 carry more than ten thousand men, and 
 we have more than thirty thousand." 
 " "Well," returned Grant, "ten thousand 
 are more than I intend to retreat with." 
 
 The consequence of Shiloh was, the 
 withdrawal of the rebels from their second 
 line of defense, by their evacuation of Cor- 
 inth on the 30th of May, seven weeks after- 
 wards, the disappointment both of their 
 great plan of a northern invasion and of 
 their secondary plan of holding the Mem- 
 phis and Charleston Railroad line, and the 
 opening of all Tennessee, and the North of 
 Mississippi and Alabama, to the Union 
 forces ; the opening of the Mississippi river 
 from Memphis down to Vicksburg; the sub- 
 sequent movement which resulted in the bat- 
 tle of MuUrecsboro and the securing of Chat- 
 tanooga on the east; and the series of elTorts 
 which culminated in the capture of Vicks- 
 burg on the west. In short, this battle 
 flung the Rebellion, in the Valley of the 
 Mississippi, into a defensive posture, out of 
 which it never escaped during the remain- 
 der of the war. 
 
 A few days after the proclamation which 
 gave freedom to the slaves. General Grant 
 expressed his concurrence in it after his 
 sober fashion, by a dry phrase in a general 
 order on the subject of organizing colored 
 regiments. "It is expected," he says, 
 "that all commanders \\ill especially exert 
 themselves in carrying out the policy of 
 the administration, not only in orgsiiiizing 
 colored regiments, and rendering them 
 
 effective, but also in removing prejudice 
 against them." 
 
 Vicksburg and Port Hudson were now 
 the only remaining two of that series of 
 positions, most of them really impregnable 
 from the river, by which the rebels had 
 throttled the great artery of western com- 
 merce. 
 
 His previous career naturally enough 
 pointed out Grant for the command of the 
 Vicksburg campaign; and the event showed 
 that his absolute inability to let go where he 
 had once taken hold, his inevitable contiu- 
 uence in hammering at his object, were ex- 
 actly the qualtiies needed. 
 
 For a little while, General Halleck him- 
 self came and commanded in person against 
 Corinth, General Grant being second in 
 command. 
 
 Halleck being appointed General-in- 
 Chief, Grant remained in command of the 
 Army of the Tennessee, and of the mili- 
 tary districts of Cairo, West Tennessee and 
 Mississippi. The rebels knew as well as 
 he that his face was set steadfastly towards 
 Vicksburg ; and to begin with, they at- 
 tacked his troops at Corinth and luka in 
 great force and with tremendous fury, in 
 order to break up his plans. At both places 
 they were however defeated. In October, 
 the rebel General Pemberton was placed 
 in command in Northern Mississippi, and 
 in the last two months of 18G2, took place 
 Grant's first attempt against Vicksburg. 
 The place had already been attacked by 
 the two powerful fleets of Farragut and 
 Davis, during seventy days, from the pre- 
 ceding May 18th to July 27th ; but though 
 25,000 shot and shell had been thrown into it, 
 not one gun had been dismounted, and only 
 seven men were killed and fifteen woun- 
 ded; a result which showed plainly enough 
 how the place was to be taken if at all. 
 
 Grant's movement was to be by land, 
 southward from his post at Corinth, direct- 
 ly at Pemberton ; while Sherman was to 
 get footing if possible close to Vicksburg. 
 The loss of Grant's main depot of supplies 
 at Holly Springs, midway in his progress, 
 broke down his part of the plan, and Pem- 
 berton then reinforcing Vicksburg, repuls- 
 ed Sherman and broke down the rest of it. 
 Grant now established his head-quarters 
 at Memphis, January 10th, 18G3, and 
 moved his army towards his goal by water. 
 On the 2d of February, he reached Young's 
 Point, a little above the city ; his army 
 was already there and at Milliken's Bend 
 just below. ' 
 
 His purpose was one ; to get his array 
 across to the Vicksburg side and thence to 
 prosecute his attack. First he tried a canal 
 across the neck of the river peninsula oppo- 
 site Vicksburg. Through this, if he could 
 get the water to accept it as a new bed, he 
 could take his forces below the city, out of 
 reach of its guns, aud cross over. But a 
 flood burst into the unfinished canal and 
 drowned out thr plan. Then he tried to 
 
•■^5 
 
 clear out a longer water route to do the 
 same thing, through a string of bayous and 
 I'ivei's back in the Louisiana swamps. A 
 fall iu the river broke up this plan, as a 
 rise had done that before it. Then he tried 
 a longer route of the same sort, beginning 
 at Lake Providence, seventy-five miles 
 north of Vicksburg, but it was found im- 
 practicable. Then resorting to the east 
 side of the Mississippi, he sent a naval ex- 
 pedition to try to penetrate Yazoo Pass, and 
 thence through the inconceivable tangle 
 of the Yazoo swamps and their rivers, to 
 get behind the outer rebel defences north 
 of Vicksburg, and so make a lodgment. 
 But this plan was checkmated by the hasty 
 erection in the heart of the swamp region, 
 at the junction of the Tallahachie and 
 Yazoo rivers, of a powerful fort, which the 
 fleet tried in vain to silence. Then he sent 
 another fleet to try another part of the same 
 monstrous tangle, by way of the Big Sun- 
 flower river, but that effort miscarried much 
 as the preceding one did. 
 
 The obstinate commander had now tried 
 six assaults upon his prey, and had been 
 busily working at his failures for nearly 
 four months. March 29th, 1863, he set his 
 forces in motion for the seventh and suc- 
 cessful effort. This was by what he had 
 iu fact recognized from the beginning as 
 the best line of operation — by the south. 
 It was however also the most difficult. 
 As one of the historians of the war observes, 
 a measure of the difilculties offered is given 
 by the fact that Gen. W. T. Sherman was not 
 disposed to advise it. The same writer 
 adds, "It can only be said that there was 
 tliat in the composition of General Grant's 
 mind that prompted him to undertake that 
 which no one else would have adventured." 
 
 Colonel Grierson's cavalry force was 
 now launched down from Tennessee to go 
 tearing through the whole interior of Mis- 
 sissippi, and thoroughly frighten all its 
 people, while he should break up, as he 
 circuited far arcKind Vickburg, as many as 
 possible of the railroads, bridges, and other 
 means of communication, leading from the 
 city back into the country, or from one part 
 ofthe State to another. Grant's own troops 
 moved down the river a total distance of 
 seventy-five miles. The fleet and transports 
 ran the batteries and ferried the army across 
 at Bruiusburg ; Grant moved at once three 
 miles inland, and May 1st, beat General 
 Bowen at Port Gibson. Then ho moved 
 eastward, drove Johnston out of Jackson, 
 an important centre for railroad lines, and 
 broke up all the communications in the 
 neighborhood ; then turning short about, 
 he approached Vicksburg by forced 
 .marches ; on May 10th, met Pemberton at 
 Champion Hills and defeated him ; follow- 
 ed him sharply up, forced the passage of 
 the Big Black, drove Pemberton into the 
 city, and on May IGth had formed his lines 
 of attack. After a vigorous siege, whose 
 progress attracted the attention of the 
 
 whole civilized world, the place surren- 
 dered with 27,000 men, on July 4th, 1863. 
 The whole number of prisoners made since 
 crossing the Mississippi was 37,000. This 
 great achievement freed the Mississippi, 
 cut the rebellion in two, and rendered it 
 out of the question for the rebels to hold 
 the Mississippi Valley. 
 
 General Grant's commission as major- 
 general in the regular army was dated 
 July 4, 1863, the day of the occupation of 
 Vicksburg. In the succeeding October, he 
 was placed iu command ofthe great "Mili- 
 tary Division ofthe Mississippi," consisting 
 ofthe three "Departments" of the Ohio, 
 the Cumberland, and the Tennessee, and 
 including the command of four strong 
 armies; his own, Hooker's, and those ol 
 the Cumberland and the Ohio. 
 
 Grant's next victory was that of Chatta- 
 nooga, November 25, 1863, which substan- 
 tially repaired the ill effects ofthe defeat of 
 Rosecrans at Chickamauga, and assured 
 the possession of the mountain citadel from 
 which, in the next spring, Sherman sallied 
 on his way to Atlanta. 
 
 On March lOih, 1864, Grant was appoin- 
 ted Lieutenant General, and placed iu com- 
 mand of all the armies of the United 
 States. 
 
 The Union armies, as Grant himsulf had 
 already remarked, in his dry way, had 
 hitherto "acted independently, and with- 
 out concert, like a baulky team, no two 
 pulling together." 
 
 Henceforward in his single strong hand, 
 those armies worked together. 
 
 In the campaign of 1864, the first act 
 was the battle of the "Wilderness. It was 
 after six days battle that Grant sent to 
 "Washington the dispatch which ended 
 with the grim remark, " I propose to fight 
 it out on this line if it takes all summer." 
 Snotts3rlvania followed, and Cold Harbor ; 
 the investment of Petersburg, and that 
 long series of assaults, forays, entrench- 
 ments and battles which ended with the 
 surrender of Lee and the explosion of the 
 Rebellion. 
 
 Since the close of the war General Grant's 
 life, although comparatively inactive, has 
 not been wanting in valuable services to 
 his country or in proofs of his exalted pat- 
 riotism. The most conspicuous of these 
 were furnished in connection with his oc- 
 cupancy of the "War Department, and the 
 removal of Sheridan. His acceptance of 
 the position of Secretary of War ad interim, 
 after the suspension of Secretary Stanton, 
 in August, 1867, although criticised by 
 some Republican newspapers at the time, 
 was a step taken with the full concurrence 
 of Mr. Stanton, and with a view to reseiT- 
 ing the control of that important depart- 
 ment for the benefit of the loyal people of 
 the country. "When, in January, 1868, 
 the Senate refused to acquiesce in the 
 President's suspension of Mr. Stanton, and 
 restored liim to the War Office, it was the 
 
action of General Grant aloue which gave 
 elTccl to the resolution of that body. Had 
 be not retired from the Department and 
 permitted Secretary Stanton to obtain pos- 
 Icssiou before the President had an op- 
 portunity to adopt measures to preven 
 tliHt occurrence, his reinstatemeut would 
 have been resi.sled. This Mr. Johnsoa 
 subsequenllv avowed iu his correspondence 
 with General Grant, wherein he severely 
 censured the latter fur his failure to take 
 part in the conspiracy to prevent Mr. btan- 
 ton'8 restoration. 
 
 Of all the papers emanating from Gener- 
 al Grant, there ia none, perhaps, which 
 met with a warmer response or more 
 completely demonstrated his hearty sym- 
 pathy with the loyal masses of his country- 
 men, than his eloquent letter to the Presi- 
 dent, protesting against the removal of Gen. 
 Sheridan. In that, as in his letter accept- 
 ing' his nomination for the Presidency by 
 the National Republican Convention, he 
 gives utterance to the idea ever prominent 
 in his mind, that the will of the people 
 
 should be the supreme rule of action to an 
 administrative officer. 
 
 The last-mentioned letter, brief as it is, 
 contains abundant proof that General Grant 
 isjustthemau the country wants for its 
 next President. Its last four words:— "Let 
 us have peace," will touch an answer- 
 u^ chord in every heart, and the whole 
 country will feel that if there is one man 
 among the thirty-five millions who nov/ 
 compose the American people, capable ot 
 securing us that blessing and the general 
 prosperity and happiness which are its 
 natural concomitants, that man is General 
 Ulysses S. Grant. The people have wit- 
 nessed his unpretending patriotism, his 
 singleness of purpose, his freedom from 
 ambition or vain display, and they perceive 
 that great as he is in his character and 
 achievements, he still feels himself to be 
 one of themselves, a man who may be 
 trusted to respect and to execute their will 
 in any position in which he maybe placed. 
 So feeling, they will elect him as tlieir Pres- 
 ident by an overwhelming majority. 
 
 SCHUYLER COLFAX. 
 
 General William Colfax, the grand- 
 father of Hon. ScnuYLEn Colfax, was a 
 citizen of New Jersey and was the command- 
 ing ofllcor of Gen. Wasliinglon's life guards 
 throughout the RcvoUitionary War. His 
 holding that very confidential and respon- 
 sible |)ost is sufllcient evidence of his 
 Btcadincss, sense, courage and discretion. 
 It is tt further toatiuionial to tlie same effect, 
 that Gen. Colfax latterly became one of 
 the most intimate personal friends of the 
 crcat revolutionary chieftain. Gen. Col- 
 tax's wife was Hester Schuyler, a cousin 
 of Gen. I'liilip Scliuyler. 
 
 General Colfax's son, Schuyler Colfax, 
 the father of the Speaker, was an officer of 
 one of the New York city banks, and died 
 four months before his son was born. 
 
 Scliiiyler Colfax was born in New York 
 city, March 23, 1823, and was the only son 
 of his widowed mother. lie was taught 
 
 in the common schools — finished his edu- 
 cation at the high school then standing in 
 Crosby street, and at ten years had re- 
 ceived all the school training he ever had. 
 He now became a clerk in a store, and 
 after three years removed to Indiana with 
 his mother and her second husband, a Mr. 
 Matthews. They settled in St. Joseph 
 County. Here the youth for four years 
 again served as clerk in the village of New 
 Carlisle. When 17 years old ho was ap- 
 pointed deputy county auditor, and for the 
 better fulfilment of his official duties, ho 
 now removed to the county town, South 
 Bend, where he has lived ever since. 
 
 In iS45, he became proprietor and editor 
 of the " St. Joseph Valley Register," the 
 local paper of his town. South Bend. This 
 was the beginning of his independent 
 career, and if hope had been absent, the 
 prospect would have looked meagre 
 enough. He was a youth of just over 
 twenty-one, and he had two hundred and 
 fifty subscribers. But the youthful editor 
 had hope, and what was far more im- 
 portant, remarkable tact and capacity for 
 his laborious profession. By good fortune 
 and perseverance, he was able to tide over 
 the first dangerous crisis for a poor man 
 who undertakes a large literary enterprise 
 — the period of maximum debt, so fatal to 
 new periodicals. This is a point like the 
 darkest hour just before day, when the 
 newspaper or magazine is, very likely, 
 B'eadily gaining in reputation and even in 
 circulation, but when the circulation has 
 not quite reached tlie paying point, and 
 the paper bills have been postponed to the 
 
latest possible moment, wliilc the constant 
 outgoes for paying the journeymen, and 
 for the other weekly office expenses, have 
 kept up their monotonous drain. With 
 Mr. Colfax this period was at the end of 
 the first year of his paper, when he owed 
 $1,375. The concern gradually became 
 productive, however. A few years after- 
 wards the ofhce was burned down, and the 
 uninsured editor was left to begin business 
 over again. He did so, and has earned a 
 very comfortable living by it, though he is 
 by no means a rich man. 
 
 Mr. Colfax's first nomination for Con- 
 gress was in 1851, and he was beaten, 
 though only by 200 majority, in a district 
 strongly opposed to him in politics. His 
 competitor was that Dr. Graham N. Fitch 
 who was afterwards the congenial yoke- 
 fellow of Mr. Bright in the U. S. Senate, 
 on the side of the South, during Mr. Bu- 
 chanan's presidency. Mr. Colfax's friends 
 were of opinion, however, that the fatal 
 200 against him were illegal votes, imported 
 by means of a certain railroad then con- 
 structing in those parts, and from among 
 the laborers employed upon it. In 1852 
 he was a delegate to the Whig National 
 Convention that nominated Gen, Scott, 
 and as at the convention of 1848, was a 
 secretary. He declined a second congres- 
 sional nomination, and his district, which 
 he had lost by only 200, was now lost by 
 1,000 
 
 Mr. Colfax was elected to the 34th Con- 
 gi-ess by 2,000 majority, i he previous major- 
 ity of his competitor having been 1,000 the 
 other way. 
 
 It was during the session of 1856, that 
 Mr. Colfax delivered his well known and 
 pr;werful speech on the bogus " Laws " of 
 Kansas, imposed uu that State by the fraud 
 and violence of the pro slavery ruffians of 
 those days. This speech, a WDrd-for-w^rd 
 quotation of clause after clause of this in- 
 famous code, accompanied with a plain, 
 sober and calmly toned explanation of the 
 same, produced a very great effect, and 
 was considered so able a summary of tiie 
 case involved, that during the Presidential 
 campaign of that j^ear, a half million copies 
 of it were distributed among the voters of 
 the United States. By way of driving 
 quite home the truths of the case, Mr. Col- 
 fax, where he quoied the clause Avhich in- 
 flicted imprisonment at hard lahov with ball 
 and chain, upon any one who should ever 
 say "That persons liave not the right to 
 hold slaves in this Territory," lifted from 
 hia desk and showed to the House an iron 
 ball of the statutory dimensions (viz: 
 inches diameter, weighing about 30 lbs.) 
 apologizing for not also exhibiting the six- 
 foot chain prescribed along with it. Alex- 
 ander H. Stephens, afterwards Vice Presi- 
 dent of the Rebels, who sat close by, asked 
 to take this specimen of pro-slavery jewelry 
 for freemen, and having tested its weight, 
 would have returned it. But Mr. Colfax 
 
 smilingly asked him to hold it for him until 
 he was through speaking, and while the 
 pro-slavery leader dandled the decoration 
 proposed by his friends for men guilty of 
 free speech, Mr. Colfax, in a few telling 
 sentences, showed that Washington and 
 Jefferson and Webster and Clay had said 
 the words which would have harnessed 
 them, a quarternion of convicts, into the 
 chain-gang of the border ruffians. 
 
 Mr. Colfax's constituents, extremely 
 satisfied with his course and abilities, re- 
 nominated him by acclamation while he 
 was in Washington this year, and he was 
 re-elected after the usual joint canvass, al- 
 though the presidential election of that fall 
 went against his party. That such would 
 be the result, Mr. Colfax had confidently 
 predicted, as a consequence of the third- 
 party nomination of Mr. Fillmore. But 
 he worked with none the less zeal for his 
 principles and his party. He had breadth 
 and soundness and clearness of view 
 enough to sight along the rising plane of 
 the successive anti-slavery votes of 1844, 
 1848, 1552, and 1856, and to see that the 
 Party of Freedom and right was the Party of 
 the Future ; and while doubtless he would 
 have been just as stf-adfast in doing right 
 if he had no hope of a right-doing govern- 
 ment, yet the very best of men works with 
 a more cheery strength when, to use the 
 words of the story, he can " see the chips 
 fly." It was with sentiments of lofty res- 
 olution that he wrote, some months before 
 the Republican nomination was made, and 
 just after that of Mr. Fillmore: "Whether 
 the Republican ticket shall be successful 
 or defeated this year, the duty to support 
 it, to proclaim and defend its principles, 
 to arm the consrience of the nation, is none 
 the less incumbent. The Republican move- 
 ment is based on Justice and Right, conse- 
 crated to Freedom, commended by the 
 teachings of our Revolutionary Fathers, 
 and ckn)anded bytiie extraordinary events 
 of our recent history, and though its tri- 
 umphs may be delayed, nothing is more 
 certain" 
 
 In 1S58 Mr. Colfax was agiiin nominated 
 by acclamation, and re-elected by a tri- 
 umphant majority, and so he has been in 
 every election since, carrying his district 
 against untiring and desperate and enor- 
 mous etforts directed against him specially 
 as a representative man, not merely by his 
 local opponents, but by the whole torces 
 of eveiy kind which the party opposed to his 
 could concentrate within bisdistrict. Such 
 a scries of political successes shows not 
 only the power of the public speaker, and 
 the discretion of the politician, but shows 
 also a hearty and vigorous unity of noble 
 thoughts between the constituency and the 
 representative, and also a magnetic per- 
 sonal attractiveness which holds fast for- 
 ever any friend once made. Mr. Colfax 
 hath friends, because he hath showed him- 
 self friendly. 
 
Durins the 86th Congress, (December, 
 1859, to Slarcb, ISCl) Mr. Colfax was chair- 
 man of the Committee on Post Ollices and 
 Po«t Roads, and diil much and uselulwork 
 in kof-piug alivr and healthy the somewhat 
 unwi. Illy machinery of that important in- 
 fititution. He was iu particular successful 
 in promotina: the extension of mail facili- 
 ties umonp the now mining communities 
 in the Kocky Mountain gold fields, and in 
 jn-ocuring the passairc of the very important 
 hills for fhc D lily Overland Mail, and far 
 the Overland Telegraph to San Francisco, 
 by way of Pike's Peak and Utah. 
 
 It was ft matter of course that Mr. Colfax 
 should go with all his heart into the great 
 struggle of 18C0. lie fell and understood 
 with unusual earnestness and clearness the 
 importance of the principles involved, and 
 the haz:irds of the political campaign. Into 
 a paragraph or two written some time be- 
 fore the Chicago nomination, he conden- 
 sed a whole code of political wisdom, and 
 can now be seen to have pointed out Abra- 
 ham Lincoln as the best candidate, by de- 
 scribing the political availability and ethi- 
 cal soundness of the position Mr. Lincoln 
 then occupied. He wrote : 
 
 '•We differ somewhat from those ardent 
 contemporaries who demand the nomina- 
 tion of their favorite representative man, 
 whether popular or unpopular, and who 
 insist tliat this must be done, even if we 
 arc defeated. "We do agree wilh them in 
 declaring that we shall go for no man who 
 docs not prefer free labor and its exten- 
 sion to slave labor and its extension — 
 Avho though mindful of the impartiality 
 which should characterize the Kxecntive 
 of the whole Union, will not fail to rebuke 
 all new jilots for making the government 
 the propagandist of slavery, and compel 
 promptly and efficiently the sui)pression 
 of that horrible slave-trade which the 
 whole civilized world has banm^d as in- 
 famous, piratical and accursed. But in a 
 Hcpubliian National Convention, if any 
 man could be found. North, South, East or 
 West, whose integrity, whose life, and 
 whose avowals rendered him unquestiona- 
 bly safe on these questions, and j-et who 
 could yet poll one, two or three hundred 
 thousand votes more than any one else, we 
 believe it would be both wisdom and duty, 
 patriotism and policy, to nominate him by 
 acdamation and tluis render the contest 
 an assured success from its very opening. 
 Wc hope to sec 18C0 realize the famed 
 motto of Augustine— ''In csscutials unity, 
 in non-essentials liberty, in all tiling's 
 charity." ° 
 
 That is Tcry broad and sound sense. It 
 
 was iu exact accordance with this doctrine 
 and with these intimations as to who was 
 the right man, that Mr. Lincoln was uom- 
 inatecf, according to the desire of Mr. Col- 
 fax's heart ; and in the coming campaigu 
 in his own very important State of Indiana, 
 he did most valuable service iu assurin:j; 
 the victory, 
 
 Upon Mr. Lincoln's election, a very 
 powerful influence, made up of publio 
 sentiment, the efforts of newspapers, tlic 
 urgent recommendations of governors ami 
 legislatures, and in particular of the re- 
 publican presidential electors, members ot 
 legislature, congressmen, and whole body 
 of voters of Indiana, united to press upon 
 the new President the appointment of Mr. 
 Colfax to the office of Post Master General. 
 Mr. Lincoln however had resolved to make 
 Hon. C. B. Smith, of Indiana, Secretary 
 of the Interior, and could give no other 
 Cabinet place to that State. But as long 
 as he lived, he loved and respected and 
 trusted Mr. Colfax ; and it is on record 
 that "he rarely took any steps affecting the 
 interests of the nation without making his 
 intentions known to Mr. Colfax, in whose 
 judgment he placed the utmost confidence." 
 Continuing in Congress, Mr. Colfax 
 served with efficient and patriotic fervor in 
 his place, and in December, 18G3, was 
 chosen, and has since remained speaker. 
 In this extremely responsible, important 
 and laborious place, his official career has 
 been openly visible to all men, while only 
 those among whom he presides can compe- 
 tently appreciate the rare personal and ac- 
 quired qualifications which he has so ably 
 exercised — the even good temper, the cx- 
 haustless patience, the calm prompt pres- 
 ence of mind, the immense range of honest 
 questions and sly quirks of parlimcntary 
 law which he must have at his tongue's 
 end ; even the vigorous health and endur- 
 ing physical frame which enables him to 
 sit through session after seasion, day after 
 day, witliout losing his readiness or de- 
 cisiveness of thought and action. 
 
 He has, however, maintained and even 
 increased his reputation as a wise and just 
 legislator, a most useful public servant, a 
 shrewd and kindly chairman, and a skillful 
 parlimcntarian. His duties have not been 
 in their nature so brilliant as the deeds ot 
 our great commanders by land or by SiCa ; 
 nor so prominent even as the labors oi 
 some civilian officials ; but they have been 
 such as to require the greatest and most 
 solid and u.seful of the civic virtues, cour- 
 age, integrity, forethought, justice, and 
 steady inexhaustible industry. 
 
 CHBOKICLE PRINT., WAanrNGTON, D. C, 
 
LiUKHKt Ul- LUNOKtbb 
 
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LIBI 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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