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PART II. UNDER BOTH FLAGS.
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NUMBER {307}of years have gone by since the scenes told of in the firstpart of our book were enacted by the boy, whose interest has neverwavered, and whose heart is as young as it was in that day. The scarsof battle are tenderly smoothed away by the softening touch of time, andthe blue and the gray are no more arrayed against each other, but standshoulder to shoulder, eager to draw the sword, if need be, in defence oftheir beloved land and her institutions. The grassy mound and toweringmonument each tells its tale of the heroes who slumber beneath, and whoare alike worthy of unstinted praise.
Our late war with a foreign power has proven the loyalty of Americans inevery corner of our republic, and how earnestly the men of those days,from North and South, have come forward to fight the battles of theircountry--one, forevermore. Valuable services have been rendered by manyof those who were the leaders of those days, in that sad conflict,and whose names have ever been renowned for courage, earnestness andbravery.
We are, as a nation, making history fast, and in a book written {308}foryoung people, it seemed proper to give them a few brief sketches ofthose whose names were prominently identified with the war of 1861.The boy who told his simple story is no longer a boy, but his pride andrejoicing are as hearty as if the "dew of youth" sat upon him yet, andin reviewing the lives of those who can truly be called great, and goneto their final reward, one of the first whose claims are strong.
ULYSSES S. GRANT.
General Grant's career was so extraordinarily brilliant, and wascompressed into so short a time that it stands almost alone as one ofthe most astonishing succession of events.
His birthplace was Point Pleasant, Ohio. Here on the 27th of April,1822, the future general was born. When he was but a year old hisparents moved to Georgetown, where he grew into a sturdy, quiet lad,showing no particular smartness any more than the average boy. Indeed,he was rather dull, learning rather slowly, and with difficulty.There were no free schools when he was a boy. These institutionswere supported by subscription, and one teacher had charge of all thepupils--from the primer class to the big boy or girl of eighteen.
General Grant never saw an algebra nor any mathematical work until hewent to West Point. He had a great fondness for horses, and was never sohappy as when he could be with them. He was an excellent judge of them.When he was but seven he drove his father's horses, hauling all the woodused in the house and shops. When he was fifteen he made a horse tradewith a Mr. Payne, at Flat Rock, Kentucky, where he was visiting.The brother of this gentleman was to accompany young Grant back toGeorgetown. The boy was told that the horse had never had a collar on(it was a saddle horse), but he hitched it up, and started to drive theseventy miles with a strange animal. The horse ran and kicked, and madethe companion horse frightened, and Ulysses stopped them right on theedge of an embankment twenty {309}feet deep. Every time he would start,the new horse would kick and run, until Mr. Payne, who was thoroughlyfrightened, would not proceed any further in his company, but tookpassage in a freight wagon. The boy was left alone, but with thatfaculty for surmounting difficulties which distinguished him in afterlife, a happy thought struck him--he took out his bandana, a hugehandkerchief much used then, and blindfolded the creature, drivinghim quietly to the house of his uncle in Maysville, where he borrowedanother horse.
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A laughable incident occurred when he was eight. He saw a colt which hevery much coveted, and for which the owner demanded $25. General Grant'sfather said he would give $20. The boy was so anxious to possess thecolt that his father yielded, giving him instructions how to make thebargain. Going to the owner the boy said: "Papa says I may offer you $20for the colt, but if you won't take that I am to offer $22.50, and ifyou won't take that, to give you $25." It is needless to say what he hadto pay for the colt.
The elder Grant was not poor in the usual sense of the term--on thecontrary, he was quite well situated for the time and place.
Ulysses was sent to West Point at seventeen; he was quite apt inmathematics, but had no love for military tactics, and resolved {310}notto stay in the army, even if he graduated. He was not brilliant in hisclass here, either--he says himself that had "the class been turned theother end foremost, I should have been near the head." He graduated fouryears after his entrance, No. 21 in a class of thirty-nine.
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It was feared at that time that he had the consumption, for he had a badcough, but his outdoor life entirely removed it.
His real name was Hiram Ulysses Grant, but some one made a blunder inmaking out the document appointing him a cadet, and as U. S. Grant hewill be known always.
On graduation he was breveted Second Lieutenant of Infantry, and placedin the Fourth Regiment, which was sent to the frontier. But two yearswent by, ere he was sent to Texas to join General Taylor's army, andhere he became a full lieutenant. He was made quartermaster of hisregiment early in 1847, after showing great valor in the battles of PaloAlto, Resaca, Monterey, and the siege of Vera Cruz. He participated inall of the engagements, and was promoted on the field of Molino del Reyfor his bravery. A few days after an exhibition of the same quality wonhim special notice and praise from his brigade commander.
When {311}the Mexican War was over, he was stationed at: Sackett'sHarbor, New York. He had long been attached to Miss Julia Dent, thesister of one of his classmates, and August 22, 1848, she became hiswife.
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Four years later he went with his regiment to California and Oregon,where he became captain. The summer of 1854 saw, apparently, an end tohis military career, for he resigned his commission and tried to work asmall farm near St. Louis, and attend to real estate in the city. He was{312}not intended for either vocation. Greater things were in storefor him, and, disheartened at his poor success, he went to work for hisfather, as clerk in his store--the leather trade, in Galena, Illinois.
At the first sound of war he offered his services to the government, andmarched to Springfield at the head of a company. Governor Yates placedhim on his staff, and made him mustering officer of all the volunteersfrom Illinois, but in June he was made colonel of the Twenty-firstRegiment, which he had organized and drilled himself. Needing carsto transport it to a distant point, he was told they could not befurnished. So little a matter as that did not annoy him, but with thatdirectness and energy which always marked his movements, he astonishedthe authorities by marching the entire regiment to the desired place.
In August he was promoted, becoming brigadier-general, and assumingcommand of all troops at Cairo. From this hour his successes were great,and have become matters of history. He was the idol of the army, and thesurprise of the country, which gave him the popular name which seems tofit him so well--Unconditional Surrender Grant.
After the siege of Vicksburg and the defeat of General Bragg, it becameplain to the government that one great mind should control all theforces, and General Grant was declared commander of the entire armies ofthe Union, early in 1864.
It was then that President Lincoln and General Grant met for the firsttime--a meeting between two great men. The commission of full generalwas bestowed upon Grant in July, 1866, this title being createdespecially for him. From August, 1867, to January, 1868, he was reallySecretary of War, on account of the trouble between President Johnsonand Secretary Stanton. He received the nomination for President, in May,1868, at the hands of the Republican convention which met in Chicago,and was elected by an overwhelming majority. He was reelected to asecond term and at its close he made a tour of the world, with his wife.He was received with unbounded enthusiasm everywhere.
In 1881 he {313}bought a house in New York City, which he made a home inthe fullest sense, for his family and himself. On Christmas Eve, 1883,he slipped on the sidewalk, and injured himself so badly that he hadto use crutches ever after. Becoming partner in a banking house, he wasrobbed of all he had by his associates in business and had to turn hisattention to literary work, furnish
ing the _Century_ with some articles.Being solicited to give his experiences, he wrote his "Memoirs," whichhe indited while suffering great anguish, and which he finished fourdays before his death. His wife received for the two volumes from hispen $400,000 as royalty.
The hero of many battles, the grand soldier, was doomed. In 1884 atrouble in his throat developed into a cancer, and for nearly a year heendured intense agony, never murmuring, but working on, that he mightplace those he so dearly loved beyond want.
On July 23, 1885, he died, in a cottage at Mt. McGregor, near Saratoga,New York--a man whom the world is better for having known.
JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD.
Few boys have risen from such humble surroundings to the highest giftof a great nation, as did the twentieth President of the United States,James A. Garfield. His boyhood's home was a simple cabin in the woods ofOhio, unbroken save by the few settlers who hewed the trees and madea clearing for a home. His father was one of these pioneers, and thefuture President of our great Republic was a genuine farmer's boy,and knew how to do all the hard work upon a farm. He chopped wood, andhelped care for the few acres they called their farm. They did not livein luxury, for they had no means to squander. Living on the plainestfare, wild game and corn, or wheat cracked or pounded in a mortar,performing the hardest labor, the boy's strength grew, until he became ahardy, robust lad, the pride of his beloved parents.
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He {315}never had much schooling, as it was only three months eachwinter that his parents could send him to the district school, but mostexcellent use he made of his scant opportunities. At fourteen he wasapprenticed to a carpenter, and three years later he worked on thecanal. When he was a mere lad, he longed to be a sailor, but he fellsick, and after that he never seemed to long for the sea.
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The little village of Orange, Ohio, where he was born on the nineteenthof November, 1831, was soon to see him no more as a resident, for inMarch, 1849, he left home and entered Geauga Seminary at Chester, andsoon was fitted to teach a district school. But he had to work at histrade (the carpenter's) to help pay his way, his mother not being ableto assist him, save by a loan of $17.00 which she furnished him thefirst term that he was there. Every morning and evening, and Saturdays,as well as his entire summer vacation, he spent in labor at the bench.The next three years he passed in the Eclectic Institute at Hiram, andhere his finances still continuing low, he willingly acted as studentand janitor, and afterward as student and teacher. He was unable toearn enough to pay for his tuition at William's College, and althoughhe practised the closest economy, when he graduated he owed thatinstitution $500, a debt which he afterward faithfully discharged.
He accepted the Professorship of Ancient Languages and Literature inHiram College, at twenty-six becoming its president, which he continuedto be until he entered the army in 1861.
In 1858 he married Lucretia Rudolph, who was a teacher, and a verycultivated woman, who proved a valuable companion in his literarycareer. He had studied law while President of the college, and wasadmitted to practice in the Supreme Court cf the United States in 1866.
His {316}military services were large and valuable. He was an authorityupon American finances. He held many important positions and was honoredby all his colleagues. He was made an honorary member of the celebratedCobden Club of England.
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He made many able speeches in Congress, and was elected to theThirty-eighth Congress in 1863, and reelected successively {317}tothe Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, Forty-first, Forty-second, Forty-third,Forty-fourth, Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth Congresses.
The year 1880 was an important one to James A. Garfield, for in Januaryhe was elected by the Ohio Legislature Senator for the term beginningMarch 4, 1881, to succeed Allen G. Thurman. But on the 8th of Junea still greater honor was shown him by the Chicago convention, whichnominated him for president, and the November election showed him to bethe choice of the people.
His public life was destined to be a short one, for on the morning ofJuly 2, 1881, with bright expectations of a pleasant trip to NewYork and the White Mountains with his wife and several members of theCabinet, he started from the White House for the Baltimore and Potomacstation. As Secretary Blaine and he entered the station, arm in arm,they passed through the ladies' waiting-room. As they walked brisklyon, two pistol shots were fired in quick succession, one of which tookeffect in the President's back. He sank to the floor, but was conscious.Dr. Bliss was summoned, and took charge of the case, but he named threeother surgeons as assistants. Later two very celebrated physicians wereadded to the list of medical advisers. Their united opinion was that theball had grazed the liver, and lodged in the front wall of the abdomen,but that it was not necessarily fatal. Still they did not deem it wiseto extract it.
The assassin who struck down a good man, was Charles J. Guiteau, acrazy, disappointed office-seeker. After suffering for weeks, andfluctuating between hope of recovery and unfavorable symptoms, he diedat Elberon Park, New Jersey, whither he had been removed on the 19th ofSeptember, 1881.
His life, with its early struggles, is a lesson to the boys of thisage, to show them what great possibilities are within the reach of anAmerican citizen.
EVENTS FOLLOWING THE CIVIL WAR.
THE ATLANTIC CABLE.
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ARLY {318}in October, 1851, the first effort at laying a cable for asubmarine telegraph was begun by the United States brig Dolphin, whichcarried a line of soundings across the Atlantic. At that time there werebut eighty-seven nautical miles of submarine cable laid, while now thereare nearly 200,000 statute miles. Some of these cables merely connectislands with the main shore, others are thousands of miles long. A cableis laid so far below the surface that neither storms, tides or currentscan disturb it. But the ends touching the shore are made much strongerand heavier, so that the waves will not impair them, and in some cases,near landings, they are heavily weighted to keep them in place--a thingit is not necessary to do in deep water.
In 1854 Cyrus W. Field obtained a charter for laying a cable, and whenthe first attempt was made at Kerry, Ireland, in 1857, the occasion wasmade a very brilliant affair. It was honored by the presence of a vastsquadron of British and American ships of war. Representatives of manynations were there, as well as the directors of the Atlantic TelegraphCompany, and most of the magnates of the English railroads. It was amomentous undertaking, but after laying 335 miles of cable, and causingthe heart of its projectors to beat high with hope, {319}the strandssuddenly parted, and their hopes were crushed.
The next year another expedition was commenced, which ended in a similarfailure. But nothing could dampen the ardor of its friends, and on the16th of August of the same year another cable was successfully laid,and on the 17th Queen Victoria sent the President of the UnitedStates congratulations upon the successful termination of this greatinternational work, to which Mr. Buchanan returned the courteouswish that the cable might "prove to be a bond of perpetual peace andfriendship between the kindred nations." The two continents held greatrejoicings, but disappointment was again their portion, for about the1st of September the cable throbbed no more.
In 1865 a further attempt was made, and after 1,200 miles had been laid,the cable broke again. So grand an undertaking was not to be given uplightly. Mr. Field's perseverance was unconquerable. A strong, flexiblecable was shipped on board the "Great Eastern," and on the 13th of July,1866, this gigantic boat started from Valentia, Ireland, and two weekslater it "glided calmly into Heart's Content, Newfoundland, droppingher anchor in front of the telegraph house, having trailed behind hera chain of 2,000 miles, to bind the Old World to the New." It then wentback to the mid-Atlantic, grappled the end of the broken cable of 1865,a splice was made, and the line was continued to Newfoundland by theside of the other. These lines have never failed to work. The cablehaving thus become a fact, the world was astonished and gratified. Mr.Field had worked heroically, and by our own land, by England and byFrance he wa
s enthusiastically praised. The first message which passedover this line was a worthy one--the announcement of the treaty of peacebetween Prussia and Austria.
The charges for telegraphing were formerly very high, twenty pounds fora short message being asked, but as rival companies began to spring up,competition reduced the price considerably.
Marine cables have multiplied so fast that where there was originallybut one or two, there are now eight, owned and operated {320}at a vastbenefit to the entire world with which we are in communication. Theevents occurring in the most distant climes are brought to our doorsthrough this medium so perfect is the system. Cyrus W. Field receiveda gold medal from Congress in recognition of his services, and thegratitude of the world, as well.
ALASKA
|Few can realize the magnitude of this far Northwest territory. To mostboys and girls it seems a cold, barren, desolate country, a perpetualscene of ice-bound rivers and frost and snow the whole year round, withnothing growing. When Secretary Seward accomplished the purchase of thisvast tract of land from Russia, he showed great wisdom and foresight. Nowonder that, in view of its immense size and valuable resources, hedeclared the conclusion of this affair the crowning triumph of his life.
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Russia had been anxious to sell for a long time, but many feared thatshe had drained all the value from the territory, and wanted to get ridof it. There was bitter opposition in the United States to the plan ofbuying what every one considered would prove but "a field of ice and asea of mountains."