Encyclopedia of Civil War Biography - Gih-Gra
GIHON, Albert Leary, surgeon, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 6 June, 1833. He was graduated at the Philadelphia High-school in 1850, and was professor in the Philadelphia Medical College in 1853-'4. He entered the U. S. Navy in 1855 as assistant surgeon, became surgeon in 1861, medical inspector in 1872, and medical director with the rank of captain, in 1879. He is now (1887) stationed at Mare Island, California. His published works are "Practical Suggestions in Naval Hygiene " (New York. 1871);" The Need of Sanitary Reform in Ship Life" (1877); "Sanitary Commonplaces Applied to the Navy" (1877); and the "Prevention of Venereal Disease by Legislation" (1882), and is a constant contributor to magazines and newspapers. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 644.
GILBERT, Abijah, 1806-1881, New York, advocate of abolitionism. Member of the Whig and Republican Parties. U.S. Senator from Florida, 1869-1875. (Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 644; Biographical Directory of the United States Congress)
GILBERT, Abijah, senator, born in Gilbertsville, Otsego County, New York, 18 June, 1806; died there, 23 November, 1881. His grandfather, Abijah, settled in Otsego (then Montgomery) county in 1787, and his father, Joseph, was engaged there in manufacturing and other business. The son entered Hamilton College, but did not complete his course, owing to illness. He engaged in mercantile pursuits in the country, and afterward in New York City, but retired in 1850. In politics he was a strong Whig, and afterward a Republican, and was an early advocate of the abolition of slavery. After the Civil War he moved to St. Augustine, Florida, and took an active part in the reconstruction of the state. He was elected to the U. S. Senate as a Republican, and served from 1869 till 1875, after which he retired to private life, continuing to reside in St. Augustine till just before his death. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 644.
GILBERT, Charles Champion, soldier, born in Zanesville, Ohio, 1 March, 1822. He was graduate at the U. S. Military Academy in 1846, and assigned to the 3d U.S. Infantry. He served in the war with Mexico, was in the garrison at Vera Cruz in 1847-'8, in the city of Mexico in 1848, and then engaged in frontier duty until 1850. He became an assistant professor at West Point on 28 February, 1850, was promoted to a 1st lieutenancy on 10 June, and fulfilled his duties until 28 September, 1855, after which he was on duty at various forts in Texas until the beginning of the Civil War. He distinguished himself in conflicts with Indians, and was advanced to a captaincy on 8 December, 1855. During the Civil War he served in the southwest, and was wounded at the battle of Wilson's Creek on 10 August, 1861. On 21 September, 1861, he was inspector-general of the Department of the Cumberland and of the Army of the Ohio until 25 August, 1862. During this time he was engaged in the march to Pittsburg Landing in March and April, 1862, and in the battle of Shiloh on 7 April, when he was brevetted major. He was promoted to a brigadier-generalship of volunteers on 9 September, 1862, became acting major- general in command of the Army of Kentucky, engaged in the battle of Perryville on 8 October, 1862, and for his gallantry was brevetted colonel in the regular army. Taking command of the 10th Division of the Army of the Ohio, he guarded the Louisville and Nashville Railroad through the winter, when he became assistant to the provost marshal at Louisville until 2 June, 1863. He was then commissioned major, and served at various forts until 21 September, 1866, when he was transferred to the 28th U.S. Infantry. He became lieutenant-colonel of the 7th U.S. Infantry, 8 July, 1868, colonel of the 17th U.S. Infantry on 19 May, 1881, and was retired from active service on 1 March. 1886. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 644.
GILBERT, Elias S., Iowa, American Abolition Society, Vice-President, 1856-59
GILBERT, Mary, Boston, Massachusetts, Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society (BFASS). (Yellin, 1994, p. 61
GILBERT, Rufus Henry, inventor, born in Guilford, New York, 26 January, 1832; died in New York City, 10 July, 1885. He served an apprenticeship with a manufacturing arm in Corning, New York, studied medicine with Dr. Willard Parker, of New York City, and was graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons. At the beginning of the Civil War he joined the Duryea Zouaves as surgeon, and served through the war, performing at the battle of Big Bethel the first surgical operation that was made under fire during the struggle. He was afterward made medical director and superintendent of the U. S. Army Hospitals. His health becoming impaired, he gave up active practice and became assistant superintendent of the New Jersey Central Railroad. While thus occupied he was led to study the question of rapid transit in New York City. His attention was drawn to this subject on account of his experiences as a physician, and in view of the excessive mortality in overcrowded tenement-houses. His first notion was a pneumatic tube, and this was afterward elaborated into the present elevated railroad system. He devised seven different plans, and in 1872 obtained a charter at Albany for an overhead tubular pneumatic railway, under the title of the "Gilbert Elevated Railroad Company," for which he was unable to obtain a franchise. The original elevated railway (1867) extended from Battery place through Greenwich Street and Ninth Avenue to Thirtieth Street. The horse-car companies fought against the project with every weapon, looking on the company as competitors and intruders upon their vested privileges. The contest ended in favor of Dr. Gilbert. The road was begun, but the work soon stopped, and eighteen months of litigation followed. It was not until October, 1877, that the company were enabled to proceed. The Sixth Avenue Road was built, and Dr. Gilbert was at first a large holder of the stock. He was superseded in the management in 1878, and the name of the company was changed to the Metropolitan Elevated Railroad Company. His stock passed out of his hands, extensive litigation followed, charges of fraud were made against his associates, and his death was hastened by anxiety and disappointment. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 646-647.
GILBERT, Timothy, 1797-1865, Boston, Massachusetts, abolitionist, religious organizer, businessman. Massachusetts Abolition Society, Vice-President, 1846-, Manager, 1850, Executive Committee, 1850. Member American Baptist Anti-Slavery Convention. His home was a station on the Underground Railroad in Boston, MA.
GILFILLAN, James, jurist, born at Bannockburn, Scotland, 9 March, 1829. He was brought to the United States in infancy, and spent his youth at New Hartford and Utica, Oneida County, New York. He attended only the country district schools, but studied the classics and higher mathematics privately. After a law course at the state and national law-school at Balston Spa, New York., he was admitted to the bar at Albany in December, 1850, and went immediately to Buffalo, New York, and practised till the spring of 1857. He then went to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he has since resided. He entered the military service in August, 1862, as 2d lieutenant of the 7th Minnesota Regiment, was commissioned captain in September, and served in 1862-'3 against the Sioux Indians. He then served in the south till the end of the Civil War, and in October, 1864, was commissioned colonel of the 11th Minnesota. After the war he continued in the practice of law at St. Paul till July, 1869, when he was appointed chief justice of the state supreme court, to fill a vacancy, and served till January, 1870. He was again appointed to fill a vacancy in the same office in 1875, elected in the autumn of that year, and re-elected in 1882. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 650.
GILLEM, Alvan Cullem, soldier, born in Jackson County, Tennessee in 1830; died near Nashville, Tennessee. 2 December. 1875. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1851, entered the artillery, and served against the Seminoles in Florida in 1851-'2. He became a captain on 14 May, 1861, served as brigade quartermaster, was brevetted major for gallantry at Mill Springs, and was in command of the siege artillery, and chief quartermaster of the Army of the Ohio in the Tennessee Campaign, being engaged at Shiloh and in the siege of Corinth. On 13 Mar, 1862, he was appointed colonel of the 10th Tennessee Volunteers, was provost-marshal of Nashville, commanded a brigade in the Tennessee operations during the first half of 1863, and afterward served as adjutant-general of Tennessee till the end of the war, being promoted brigadier-general of volunteers on 17 August, 1863. He commanded the troops guarding the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad from June, 1863, till August, 1864, and then took command of the expedition to eastern Tennessee, being engaged in many combats, and gaining the brevet of colonel, U. S. Army, for bravery at Marion, Virginia, He was vice-president of the convention of 9 January, 1865, to revise the constitution and reorganize the state government of Tennessee, was a member of the first legislature that was elected, and afterward commanded the cavalry in east Tennessee, and participated in the expedition to North Carolina and the capture of Salisbury, for which he was brevetted major-general in the regular army, having already received two brevets for services during the war. He was promoted colonel in the U. S. Army on 28 July, 1866, commanded the District of Mississippi in 1867-8, served on the Texas frontier and in California, and led the troops in the Modoc Campaign, being engaged in the attack at the Lava Beds on 15 April, 1873. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 650.
GILLESPIE, Eliza Maria, mother superior (in religion. Mother Mary of St. Angela), born near West Brownsville, Washington County. Pennsylvania. 21 Feb, 1824; died in St, Mary's convent, Notre Dame, Indiana, 4 March, 1887. When she was quite young her family moved to Lancaster, Ohio. She was soon afterward placed at school with the Dominican sisters, Somerset, Perry, County, and was next sent to the convent of the Visitation, Georgetown. D. C, where she finished her studies. At the time of her graduation, Thomas Ewing, her godfather, was Secretary of the Treasury under President Harrison, and Miss Gillespie's beauty and accomplishments at once made her a leader of society in Washington. During the Irish famine, by the aid of tapestry work and of a magazine story, written in conjunction with her cousin, afterward the wife of General William T. Sherman, she collected a large sum of money to send to the sufferers. Afterward, during the epidemic of 1849, she nursed the sick and dying who had been deserted from fear of the disease. In 1853 she entered the congregation of the Holy Cross, under the name of Mother Mary of St, Angela. After taking the habit, she sailed for Europe, made her novitiate in Prance, and at the end of the year took the vows of religious profession at the hands of the founder of the order, Father Moreau. In January, 1855, she returned to the United States, and was made superior of the Academy of St. Mary's, Bertrand, Mien. In the following summer she transferred the academy to the present site of St. Mary's, Indiana, and obtained a charter for it from the legislature. She laid the foundation of the present conservatory of music, and established the future of the institution on a firm foundation. She then founded other academies in different parts of the United States, until at her death she had established nearly thirty, including those of Salt Lake City, Utah, arid Austin, Texas. When the Civil War began, she left St. Mary's in charge of competent aids, organized a corps of sisters, and hurried to the front to care for the sick and wounded soldiers. She established hospitals, both temporary and permanent, and, when generals failed to secure needed aid for the sick and wounded soldiers, she made flying trips to Washington in their behalf. Her headquarters were at Cairo, and, in ill-provided buildings used for hospitals, she and her sisters were obliged to rise early and cook gruel often for fourteen hundred men before the roll-call summoned the convalescents to battle. The close of the war left her enfeebled, and she never afterward fully recovered her strength. After the war the Order of the Holy Cross in the United States was separated from the order in Europe, and she was made mother superior. She filled this office for two terms, when failing health compelled her to resign. She then became mistress of novices at St. Mary's, and prepared to pass the remainder of her days in the society of her mother and many warm friends who lived near. Mother Angela wrote sketches for Roman Catholic periodicals, including some interesting reminiscences of her experiences during the war, for the "Ave Maria," Published in Notre Dame, Indiana. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 650-651.
GILLET, Eliphalet, Hallowell, Maine. Regional agent for the American Colonization Society and Secretary of the Maine Missionary Society. Brother-in-law of Ralph Gurley. (Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, p. 131)
GILLETT, Francis, 1807-1879, Connecticut, U.S. Senator, co-founder of the Republican Party, anti-slavery advocate. (Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 652; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 4, Pt. 1, p. 490)
GILLETTE, Francis, senator, born in Windsor, now Bloomfield, Hartford County, Connecticut, 14 December, 1807: died in Hartford, Connecticut, 30 September, 1879. He was graduated at Yale in 1829 with the valedictory, and then studied law with Governor William W. Ellsworth. Failing health compelled him to relinquish this pursuit, and he settled in Bloomfield as a farmer. In 1882 and again in 1836 he was sent to the legislature, where he gained notice in 1838 by his anti-slavery speech advocating the striking out of the word "white" from the state constitution. In 1841 he was nominated against his own will for the office of governor by the Liberty Party, and during the twelve following years frequently received a similar nomination from the Liberty and Free-Soil parties. He was elected by a coalition between the Whigs, temperance men, and Free-Soilers, in 1854, to fill the vacancy in the U. S. Senate caused by the resignation of Truman Smith, and served from 25 May, 1854, till 3 March, 1855. Mr. Gillette was active in the formation of the Republican Party, and was for several years a silent partner in the "Evening Press," the first distinctive organ of that party. He was active in the cause of education throughout his life, was a coadjutor of Dr. Henry Barnard from 1838 till 1842, one of the first trustees of the State Normal School, and for many years its president. Mr. Gillette took interest in agricultural matters, was an advocate of total abstinence, and delivered lectures and addresses on both subjects. He moved to Hartford in 1852, and passed the latter part of his life in that city. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 652
GILLIS, John Pritchet, naval officer, h. in Wilmington, Del., 6 September, 1803; died there, 25 February, 1873. He was appointed a midshipman from Illinois on 12 December, 1825, his mother having moved to that state after the death of his father. He was commissioned as lieutenant on 9 February, 1837. During the Mexican War he had charge of the boats of the " Decatur," in the capture of the forts and town of Tuspan, and afterward commanded the flotilla on the Alvarado River, and acted as governor and collector of Alvarado and Tlacotalpam until prostrated by yellow fever. He was 1st lieutenant of the " Plymouth" in China in 1851, and ascended the Min River to confer with the viceroy of the province on behalf of the missionaries. In 1853-'4 he participated in the Japan Expedition under Commodore Perry. He was commissioned commander on 14 September, 1855, and assigned to the steam sloop "Pocahontas" at the beginning of hostilities in 1861, and. arriving at Fort Sumter an hour before the surrender, brought away the garrison. He afterward commanded the steamer "Monticello," and took part in the fight at Hatteras Inlet, crossing the bar, after landing troops, and engaging the forts at short range. He next commanded the "Seminole," and sustained a severe fire from the forts at Shipping Point on the Potomac River. At the battle of Port Royal the "Seminole" ran in, near the close of the action, between Hilton Head and Bay Point, and, with the support of two gunboats, raked Port Walker and drove out the enemy. His vessel was subsequently employed in blockading service, then returned to Hampton Roads, and took an active part in the attack on Sewell's Point in May, 1862. He was commissioned captain on 16 July, 1862, was assigned to the " Ossipee," and commanded the division of the Western Gulf Blockading Squadron off Mobile, and then the division off the coast of Texas, making many captures, until he returned to the north in 1864 on account of illness. He was made a commodore on the retired list on 28 September, 1866. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 653-653.
GILLMORE, Quincy Adams, soldier, born in Black River, Lorain County, Ohio, 28 February, 1825. His father was one of the pioneer settlers of Ohio. The childhood of the son was spent on the farm; his studies began at the Norwalk, Ohio, Academy, and for three winters preceding his twentieth birthday he taught a district-school, and attended two terms at the high-school at Elyria, Ohio. A poem that he read at a public exhibition attracted the attention of a member of Congress, who offered him the nomination as a cadet at the U. S. Military Academy. He was graduated in 1849, at the head of his class, assigned to the engineers, and after serving three years at Hampton Roads was appointed instructor in practical military engineering at West Point, and subsequently treasurer and quartermaster at the academy. He was promoted 1st lieutenant in the Engineer Corps in 1856, and was on duty in New York City when the Civil War opened. In August, 1861, he was appointed captain in his own corps, and engineer in-chief of the Port Royal Expedition under General Thomas W. Sherman. The reduction of Fort Pulaski, defending the water approach to Savannah, a strong fortification, isolated in the centre of a marsh Island that was entirely surrounded by deep water, was very essential to the success of this expedition, but was regarded by the ablest engineers of both armies as impracticable. Captain Gillmore. then acting brigadier-general, planned the establishment of eleven batteries of mortars and rifled guns on Tybee Island, a mile distant, which occupied two months of incessant day and night labor. The bombardment, which opened at 8 a. m., 10 April, 1862, and which was conducted under his very minute, detailed instructions as to elevation, charge, direction, intervals between shots, etc., for each piece, resulted by 2 p. M. of the following day in the surrender of the fort, which had been so shattered as to be untenable. This exploit, for which he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel, U. S. Army, 1 April, 1862, placed Captain Gillmore in the front rank of American engineers and artillerists. He was assigned to important commands in Kentucky in August, 1862, defeated General Peagram at Somerset in March, 1863, for which he was brevetted colonel, and in June, 1863, was given command of the Department of the South, comprising all territory occupied by Union troops on the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. In July he was placed in command of the 10th Army Corps, and in the autumn of the same year he won new laurels by his operations on Morris Island, for which he was brevetted brigadier-general; the reduction of Fort Sumter, and the taking of Fort Wagner and Battery Gregg, which operations were characterized by great professional skill and boldness, and which constituted a new era in the science of engineering and gunnery. For these services he was made major-general of volunteers. In 1864 he commanded the 10th Army Corps at James River, was engaged in the landing at Bermuda Hundred and the action at Swift's creek, commanded the column that turned and captured the line in front of Drury’s Bluff, and covered General Butler's retreat into intrenchments at Bermuda Hundred. In July of the same year he commanded two divisions of the 19th Army Corps in the defence of Washington, and in 1860 was again in charge of the Department of the South. Resigning his commission as major-general of volunteers, in December, 1865, he returned to service in the engineer bureau at Washington, and was subsequently appointed engineer-in-chief of all the fortifications and harbor and river improvements on the Atlantic Coast south of New York. He was promoted major in June, 1863, lieutenant-colonel in 1874, and colonel, 20 February, 1883. He was president of the Mississippi River Commission, which was created by Congress in 1879, of the boards of engineers for the improvement of Cape Fear River. North Carolina and the Potomac River and flats; as well as of several boards for important harbor improvements in process of construction according to his plans. As one of the judges at the Centennial exhibition of 1876 he made special and voluminous reports on " Portland. Roman, and Other Cements and Artificial Stones,'' and on "Brickmaking Machinery, Brick-Kilns, Perforated and Enameled Bricks and Pavements." Rutgers College has given him the degree of Ph. D. General Gillmore's works upon professional subjects are esteemed among the highest authorities in their class. They include "Siege and Reduction of Fort Pulaski (New York, 1862); "Limes, Hydraulic Cements, and Mortars " (1863); "Engineering and Artillery Operations against Charleston in 1863" (1885; supplement, 1868); "Beton, Coignet, and Other Artificial Stones" (1871); "The Strength of the Building Stone of the United States" (1874); and "Roads, Streets, and Pavements " (1876). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 653-654.
GILMER, Jeremy Francis, soldier, born in Guilford County, North Carolina 23 February, 1818. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1839, entered the Engineer Corps, and was engaged in building forts and making surveys, and in river and harbor improvements, till the beginning of the Civil War, when he resigned his commission as captain of engineers, and entered the Confederate Army. He was appointed major of engineers in September, 1861, and was chief engineer on General Albert S. Johnston's staff. In the battle of Shiloh he was severely wounded. After his recovery he was appointed chief of the engineer bureau at Richmond. On 20 August, 1863. he was promoted major-general, and ordered to Charleston to direct the defences of that city, but in June, 1864, he returned to Richmond and resumed charge of the bureau of engineering. After the war he engaged in railroad and other enterprises in Georgia. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 657.
GILMER, John Alexander, jurist, born in Guilford County, North Carolina, 4 November, 1805; died in Greensborough, North Carolina 14 May, 1868. He received a classical education, taught for three years, studied law, and was licensed to practice in 1833. He was elected to the state senate in 1846, and successively re-elected till 1856. He was the Whig candidate for governor in 1856, but was defeated by Braxton Bragg. The same year he was elected to Congress, and in 1858 was re-elected, serving as chairman of the committee on elections. He was mentioned for the place of secretary of the treasury in Mr. Lincoln's cabinet, but, withdrawing from Congress, embraced the cause of secession, and was elected a member of the Confederate Congress. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 657.
GILMER, Thomas Walker, statesman, born in Virginia; died near Washington, D. C. 28 February, 1844. He studied law, practised in Charlottesville, Virginia, and served for many years in the state legislature, for two sessions as speaker. In 1840-'l he was governor of Virginia. In 1841 he entered Congress, and, although he had been elected as a Whig, sustained President Tyler's vetoes. He was re-elected as a Democrat in 1842 by a close vote. His competitor, William L. Goggin, contested the result without success. On 15 February, 1844, he was appointed by President Tyler Secretary of the Navy, and resigned his seat in Congress on 18 February to enter on the duties of the office, but ten days later was killed by the bursting of a gun on board the United States steamer " Princeton." Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 657.
GILMOR, Harry, soldier, born in Baltimore county, Maryland, 24 January, 1838; died in Baltimore, 4 March, 1883. He was educated under a private tutor, and engaged in business in Baltimore and in the west until the beginning of the Civil War, when he joined the Confederate Army, under Colonel Ashby Turner, at Charleston, Virginia. He soon became conspicuous for his daring, especially as a scout, and was appointed sergeant-major for gallantry after the action at Harper's Ferry in December, 1861. In February, 1862, he was severely wounded, and on his recovery he was put in command of a company. He was engaged in several battles. In September, 1862, he was captured and imprisoned as a spy for five months at Fort McHenry, but in February, 1863, was exchanged. He took part in the battle of Kelly's Ford in March, 1863, rejoined the 13th Virginia Regiment in April, and in May raised a battalion of horse, and was commissioned major. In June he commanded the 1st Maryland Confederate Regiment, captured, and held for a few days, Frederick, Maryland, and the towns of Chambersburg, Carlisle, and Gettysburg, and was appointed provost-marshal of the last-named place. In February, 1864, he raided on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and was court-martialed for destroying a train and permitting his command to rob the passengers; but he was honorably acquitted of this charge and restored to his command, which was reorganized as the 2d Maryland Cavalry . In July, 1864, he led General Jubal A. Early's advance into Maryland, was engaged throughout this campaign, and in the fight at Bunker Hill was severely wounded. He rejoined his command at Woodstock, and was captured while defending his guns. He spent three years in Europe, and in 1874 was elected police commissioner of Baltimore. He published " Four Years in the Saddle " (New York, 1866). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 657.
GILMORE, James Roberts, author, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 10 September, 1823. His father was a cousin of Governor Joseph A. Gilmore, of New Hampshire. The son was prepared for college in Utica, New York, but entered a counting-room at the age of fourteen, and became a partner in the business before he was of age. He made annual business trips to the south, and at the age of twenty-five became the head of a new cotton and shinning firm in New York City, from which he retired before the beginning of the Civil War with a competency. In the early years of the war he published several novels, containing realistic portrayals of southern life and feeling, under the pen-name " Edmund Kirke." He also wrote numerous war-songs and ballads. His writings about the south, by their graphic and unexaggerated pictures of slavery, helped to decide the northern mind in favor of emancipation and the continuance of the war. In 1862 he founded the 'Continental Monthly " magazine, to advocate emancipation as a political necessity: but discontinued his connection with it soon after the issuing of President Lincoln's proclamation. In July, 1864, with Colonel Jaquess, he was intrusted with an unofficial mission to the Confederate government, with a view to arranging a peace. They only succeeded in eliciting from Jefferson Davis a declaration that he would not consent to peace except on the basis of the independence of the Confederate States, a result that had the effect of destroying the Peace Party of the north, and ensured the reelection of Abraham Lincoln. Having lost his fortune in consequence of the war, he engaged in business again in 1873. In 1883 he finally retired, and applied himself anew to the pursuit of literature. His earlier publications were " Among the Pines" (New York, 1862); "My Southern Friends " (1862); "Down in Tennessee " (1863); "Among the Guerillas" (1863); "Adrift in Dixie" (1863); "On the Border " (Boston, 1864); and " Patriot Boys " (1864). In 1880 he prepared, in connection with Dr. Lyman Abbott, an arrangement of the gospels forming a life of Jesus, entitled the " Gospel History " (New York): and the same year wrote in the space of thirty days a " Life of Garfield," of which, during the presidential campaign and immediately afterward, 80,000 copies were sold. He published subsequently "The Rear-Guard of the Revolution," an account of the early settlement of Tennessee and of the patriotic services of John Sevier (New York, 1886), and "John Sevier as a Commonwealth-Builder," a companion to the " Rear-Guard " (1887). He is now (1887) writing a series of southwestern histories. His wife, who has aided him in his literary labors, is a daughter of Judge John W. Edmonds. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp.657-658.
GILMORE, Joseph Albee, governor of New Hampshire, born in Weston, Vermont, 10 June, 1811; died in Concord, New Hampshire 17 April, 1867. He enjoyed scanty educational advantages, and while a boy made his way to Boston and entered a store. At the age of twenty-one he was in business for himself. The railroad to Concord, New Hampshire, was completed on 1 September, 1842. and about the same time he moved to that place, and opened a wholesale grocery. On 3 August, 1848, he became construction-agent, and afterward superintendent, of the Concord and Claremont Railroad, and 24 November. 1856, superintendent of the Concord Railroad, which came to include the Manchester and Lawrence and Concord and Portsmouth Railroads and their branches, making a system of about 175 miles, of which he continued in charge until 11 August, 1866. He was politically a Whig; in 1858 was elected as a Republican to the state senate, was re-elected in 1859, and made president of the Senate that year. In March, 1863, he was the Republican candidate for governor; there was no choice by the people, but he was elected in June by the legislature, and re-elected by the people, in March, 1864. The two political contests were the severest ever known in New Hampshire, and he assumed the governorship at the darkest period of the Civil War. By his predecessors, Governors Goodwin and Berry, 16 regiments of infantry, 4 companies of cavalry, 1 light battery, and 3 companies of sharp-shooters, making over 17,000 volunteers, had been put into the field; but in 1863 patriotic fervor had somewhat abated, voluntary enlistments were few, and President Lincoln had ordered a draft. Governor Gilmore, however, raised and equipped the 18th Infantry, the 1st Cavalry , and the 1st Heavy Artillery, which, together with the recruits forwarded to existing organizations, made the number of men furnished during his term of office about 14,000, and the entire number from New Hampshire more than 31.000, from a population of fewer than 330,000. Governor Gilmore retired from office in June, 1865, in feeble health. His characteristics were restless activity, unbounded energy, impatience of restraint, liberality, and public spirit. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 658.
GILMORE, Patrick Sarsfleld, musician, born near Dublin, Ireland, 28 December, 1829. He connected himself with military bands at the age of fifteen, and after having been in Canada with an English band he went to Salem, where he led a brass land, after which he settled in Boston, Massachusetts, where be organized " Gilmore's Band," with which he made an extensive tour. In 1861 he accompanied the 24th Massachusetts Regiment to the field, and in 1863 was placed in charge of all the Bands in the Department of Louisiana by General Banks. He originated monster concerts in this country, and was the projector of the great "Peace Jubilees" held in Boston in 1869 and 1872. and published an account of the first (Boston, 1871). In 1878 he made a European tour with his band. He is now band-master of the 22d Regiment. N. G. S. New York. He has composed many marches and songs. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 658.
GILPIN, Edward Woodward, jurist, born in Wilmington, Delaware, 15 July, 1805; died in Dover, Delaware, 29 April. 1876. In his youth he was in straitened circumstances, and learned the trade of a currier. He was afterward clerk in a store, but finally studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1827. He was attorney-general of Delaware in 1840-'50, and from May, 1857, till his death was chief justice of the state, he was a Whig in early life, but became a Democrat in 1856. During the Civil War he was an ardent Unionist. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 659.
GLADDEN, Adley H., soldier, born in South Carolina; died in April, 1862. He was a major in Colonel Butler's Palmetto Regiment of South Carolina Volunteers in the Mexican War, became lieutenant-colonel, and commanded the regiment at the battle of Churubusco, at which both of his superior officers were killed. He was severely wounded at the Belen Gate. In 1861 he was appointed a brigadier-general in the Confederate Army, and was assigned a brigade in Wither's division of Bragg's corps. He was wounded on the first day of the battle of Shiloh, and died soon afterward. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 663.
GLASSON, John J., naval officer, born in New York City: died there, 12 March, 1882. He was appointed midshipman, 1 February, 1823, and in that year served under Commodore Porter in the suppression of piracy in the West Indies. In 1837 he received the commission of lieutenant, and commanded the schooner 'Falcon," of the Home Squadron, in the attack on Vera Cruz in 1848. He was also engaged in the rescue of 120 inhabitants of the town of Valladolid, Yucatan, which was burned and sacked by the Indians in an insurrection. While in these waters he aided the French bark " L'Asie de Dunkirk" in a perilous position off the harbor of Aguador. He commanded the store-ship "Lexington," in Perry's Japan Expedition, in 1853-'4, was appointed commander in 1855. and stationed at New Bedford, Massachusetts, from 1861 till 1863. He was retired in October, 1864, but was in the Navy-yard at Norfolk, Virginia, in charge of stores for the supply of the Coast Squadron in the Atlantic, and the flotilla force in the Chesapeake from 1864 till 1866. He was made commodore on the retired list, 4 April, 1867. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 664.
GLAZIER, Willard, author, born in Fowler. St. Lawrence County, New York, 22 August, 1841. He spent his boyhood on a farm, and was educated principally at the state normal-school at Albany. He taught in Schodack, New York, in 1859-'60, and in 1861 enlisted in the 2d New York, or Harris Cavalry Regiment, he had reached the rank of lieutenant, when he was taken prisoner in a cavalry skirmish near Buckland Mills, Virginia, on 18 October, 1863, and sent to Libby prison, he was afterward transferred to Georgia, to Charleston, and then to Columbia, South Carolina whence he made his escape, but was recaptured near Springfield, Georgia. He escaped again from Sylvania, Georgia, 19 December, 1864, and returned home, his term of service having expired, but on 25 February, 1865, entered the Army again as 1st lieutenant in the 26th New York Cavalry, and served till the end of the war. He has since devoted himself to literature, and frequently delivered lectures. In 1876 he went from Boston to San Francisco on horseback, and was captured by hostile Indians near Skull Rocks, Wyoming Territory, but made his escape. In 1881 he made a canoe voyage of 3,000 miles, from the head-waters to the mouth of the Mississippi, and claimed to be the discoverer of a small lake south of Lake Itasca, which he maintains should be regarded as the true source of the Mississippi. It has since been found that this lake is laid down on the maps of the government surveys. Captain Glazier's works include "Capture. Prison-Pen, and Escape," over 400,000 copies of which were sold (Albany, 1865): "Three Years in the Federal Cavalry " (New York, 1870): "Battles for the Union" (Hartford, 1874); "Heroes of Three Wars" (Philadelphia, 1878): "Peculiarities of American Cities " (1883); and " Down the Great River" (1887). See his life by John A. Owens, entitled " Sword and Pen " (Philadelphia, 1884). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 664.
GLENDY, William Marshall, naval officer, born in Virginia in 1801; died in Baltimore, Maryland, 16 July, 1873. He was appointed in the U.S. Navy a midshipman in 1818, commissioned lieutenant in 1827, and served successively with the Brazil and Pacific Squadrons. In 1847 he was made commander, and served in the Mediterranean for eighteen months. Subsequently he commanded in the East Indies. In 1855 he was made captain, and in 1861-'2 served as senior officer on the coast of Africa. He was promoted to the rank of commodore in 1862, and in the following year was made prize commissioner in Washington, D. C. He served six months as lighthouse-inspector, and in 1865 retired from active service. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 665.
GLIDDEN, George Dana Boardman, naval officer, born in Ellsworth, Maine, 15 April, 1844; died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 25 January, 1885. He was graduated at the U. S. Naval Academy in 1863, and in the same year was made ensign. His first year of service was passed on the "Seminole," of the Western Gulf Blockading Squadron. He took part in the battle of Mobile Bay, 5 August, 1864, where he received the highest commendations from his commanding officer. From 1865 till 1867 he served on the "Wyoming," of the East India Squadron. He was appointed master in 1866, lieutenant in 1867, lieutenant-commander in 1868, and commander in 1883. He was engaged with the Asiatic Squadron from 1867 till 1869, when he was stationed at the Naval Academy. In 1870 and 1871 he commanded the "Tennessee." He served with the "Wachusett," of the European Fleet, from 1872 till 1874, and with the "Omaha," of the Pacific Fleet, from 1875 till 1877. He was on duty at the Boston Navy-yard in 1878. His last service was in Asiatic waters, where he commanded the "Palos," from which he was detached in 1884. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 665.
GLISSON, Oliver S., naval officer, born in Ohio, 18 January, 1809. He was appointed midshipman in the U.S. Navy from Indiana, 1 November, 1826, became lieutenant in 1887, and commanded the sloop "Reefer" during the Mexican War. He served in the U.S. Navy-yard at Norfolk, Virginia, from 1848 till 1850, when he was on special duty. He was attached to the steam frigate "Powhatan," of the East India Squadron, in 1852, and from 1853 till 1855 was on the Japan Expedition, being in Japan when the first treaty was made by Commodore Perry. He was appointed commander, and assigned to the steamer "Mount Vernon " in the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron in 1861, became captain in 1862, and while in the "Mount Vernon" saved the transport "Mississippi," which was bound to New Orleans with 1,500 men of General Butler's expedition. It was supposed that she was intentionally run upon the Frying-pan shoal. He also burned a light-boat under the guns of Fort Caswell, while on the blockade of Wilmington, North Carolina. He commanded the steam sloops "Iroquois " and "Mohican" in 1862, and the steamer "Santiago de Cuba" in 1864-"5. He was present in the two attacks on Fort Fisher, December, 1864, and January, 1865, and being recommended for promotion by Admiral Porter for covering the landing of the troops and carrying the division into action. He became commodore in 1860, and commanded the station at League Island, Pennsylvania, from 1867 till 1870. when he was appointed rear-admiral and ordered to command the European Fleet. He was retired 18 January, 1871. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 666.
GLOVER, Joshua, fugitive slave
GODON, Sylvanus William, naval officer, born in Philadelphia, 18 June. 1809: died in Blois, France, 10 May, 1879. He was appointed midshipman, U.S. Navy in 1819, and. after serving at sea in various parts of the world, was promoted passed midshipman in 1827, And lieutenant, in 1836. He accompanied Commodore Isaac Hull to the Mediterranean on the flagship " Ohio " in the years 1839,1840, and 1841, was actively employed during the Mexican War, and was present in the bomb-vessel " Vesuvius " at the reduction of Vera Cruz. He was made commander in 1855, and captain in 1861, at the beginning of the Civil War. In command of the "Mohican" he took part, in the attack on Port Royal by the fleet under Admiral Du Pont. He placed his ship in position to secure an enfilading fire on the fort on Hilton Head, and materially assisted in silencing the batteries of the enemy. In 1863 he was promoted commodore, and commanded the 4th Division of Admiral Porter's fleet at both bombardments of Port Fisher, North Carolina, in December, 1854, and January, 1865. In the report of the latter action he was specially commended for the support rendered the commander-in-chief, and for the good discipline and accurate firing of his ship, the "Susquehanna." At the close of the war he was made rear-admiral, and commanded the South Atlantic or Brazil Squadron in 1866-'7. His last active employment was as commandant of the Brooklyn Navy-yard in 1868-'70. He was retired on account of age in 1871. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 670-671.
GOFF, Nathan, politician, born in Clarksburg, West Virginia, 9 October, 1843. He was educated at the Northwestern Virginia Academy, Georgetown College, and the University of New York. In 1861 he enlisted in the National Army in the 3d Regiment of Virginia Volunteer Infantry, served as lieutenant and then adjutant of this regiment, and in 1863 was promoted major of the 4th Virginia Cavalry . In 1865 he was admitted to the bar and elected to the West Virginia Legislature, in 1868 was appointed district attorney, which office he resigned in 1881 to accept the secretaryship of the U.S. Navy, to fill out the unexpired term of Richard W. Thompson, who hail vacated it. In March, 1881, he was reappointed district attorney of West Virginia, which office he again resigned in July, 1882. He was elected to Congress as a Republican in 1884, and was re-elected in 1886. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 672.
GOLDSBOROUGH, Louis Malesherbes, naval officer, born in Washington, D. C, 18 February, 1805; died there, 20 February, 1877, entered the U.S. Navy as midshipman at seven years of age. He was promoted lieutenant in January, 1825, and, after serving a short time in the Mediterranean Squadron, went to Paris and passed two years in study. In 1827 he joined the "North Carolina" in the Mediterranean, and while cruising in the schooner " Porpoise," in the Grecian Archipelago, he commanded a night expedition of four boats and thirty-five men for the recovery of the English brig "Comet," which had been captured by Greek pirates. After a fierce fight, in which ninety of the pirates were killed, the "Comet" was rescued, and on the arrival of the expedition at Malta he received the thanks of the English government. In 1833 he married the daughter of William Wirt, and went to Florida, taking with him a colony of Germans to cultivate lands belonging to his father-in-law. During the Seminole War he commanded a company of volunteer cavalry, and also an armed steamer. In September, 1841, he was promoted commander. During the Mexican War he was executive officer of the frigate "Ohio," which bombarded Vera Cruz in March, 1847. He was senior member of the joint Army and Naval Commission to explore Oregon and California, and to report on various military matters in 1849. From 1853 till 1857 he was superintendent of the U. S. Naval Academy, and commanded the sloop " Levant" in the Mediterranean, and the frigate " Congress" in the Brazil Squadron in 1858-"60. He was commissioned captain in 1855. At the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 he was appointed flag-officer, and placed in command of the "Minnesota," of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. In September, 1861, he planned and executed a joint army and navy expedition to the sounds of North Carolina, and captured Roanoke Island, 5 February, 1862. (See Burnside, Ambrose.) He received the thanks of Congress for this service He was made rear-admiral in July, 1862, and assigned in 1863 to the duty of preparing a code of regulations for the naval service, and of revising the book of naval allowances. In 1865 he commanded the European Squadron, in 1868 was ordered to Mare Island, California, and in 1873 was placed on the retired list, and made his home in Washington. At the time of his death he had been in the service longer than any other naval officer then living, and had seen more active duty. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 673.
GOLSBOROUGH, John Rodgers, naval officer, born in Washington, D. C, 2 July, 1808; died there, 22 June, 1877, became midshipman in the U.S. Navy in 1824, lieutenant in 1837, commander in 1855, captain in 1862, and commodore in 1867. While midshipman on the sloop "Warren," of the Mediterranean Squadron, in 1824-'30, he was engaged against the Greek pirates, and in a launch with nineteen men captured the schooner " Helene," of four guns, and manned by fifty-eight pirates. In 1844-'50 he was attached to the coast survey, and in 1851-'4 to the sloop "Saratoga." During the Civil War he commanded the steamer " Union” in 1861, employed in blockading Charleston, Savannah, and Cape Hatteras. He captured and sunk the Confederate schooner "York," and bombarded the fort off Point Mathias on the Potomac. He commanded the " Florida," of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, in 1862, and the " Colorado," of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, in 1863. In 1866-'8 he served in the East India Squadron, on the sloop "Shenandoah." In 1870 he was retired. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 673.
GOLDTHWAITE, George, senator, born in Boston, 10 December, 1809; died in Montgomery, Alabama, 18 March, 1879. He received a primary education at a grammar-school in Boston, and at thirteen years of age entered the U. S. Military Academy, where he remained two years. In 1826 he moved to Montgomery, Alabama, studying law with his brother Henry, and being admitted to the bar in his eighteenth year. He practised his profession until his election as circuit judge in 1843, was appointed justice of the supreme court in January, 1852, and in 1856 became chief justice, but held the office only thirteen days, when he resigned from the bench and resumed the practice of his profession. At the beginning of the Civil War he was appointed adjutant-general of the state of Alabama. He was elected judge of the circuit court in 1868, but lost the office through an act of Congress which disqualified him. In 1870 he was elected U. S. Senator, served on the committees of claims and Revolutionary Claims, and in 1877 retired to private life. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 673.
GOOCH, Daniel W., Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery (Congressional Globe)
GOODE, John, solicitor-general, born in Bedford county, Virginia, 27 May, 1829. He was graduated at Emory and Henry College in 1848, studied law at Lexington, Virginia, and was admitted to the bar in 1851. In the latter year he was elected a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, and in 1861 sat in the state convention that passed the Ordinance of Secession. He was twice sent to the Confederate Congress, serving from 22 February. 1862, until the end of the war, and during the recesses of that body acted as volunteer aide on the staff of General Jubal A. Early. After the war Mr. Goode moved to Norfolk, Virginia, but is now (1887) engaged in the practice of the law in Washington, D. C. Shortly after his removal to Norfolk he was again elected to the Virginia Legislature, and was then chosen to Congress as a Democrat, serving from 6 December, 1875, till 3 March. 1881. Mr. Goode was a member of the National Democratic Conventions of 1868 and 1872, and was a presidential elector in 1852. 1856, and 1884. In May, 1885, he was appointed solicitor-general of the United States, and retained the office until August, 1886. During his term of service he visited British Columbia, to represent the United States in an extradition case. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 678.
GOODE, William Osborne, legislator, born in Mecklenburgh County, Virginia, 16 September, 1798; died in Boydton, Virginia, 3 July, 1859. He was graduated at William and Mary, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1821, beginning the practice of his profession at Boydton. He was for many years a member of the legislature, taking an active part in the debates on slavery in 1832, and was sent as a delegate to the State Reform Convention in 1827-'32. He was afterward elected to Congress as a Democrat, serving from 31 May, 1841, till 8 March, 1843. He was again, for several successive years, chosen to the state legislature, and was three times elected speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates. He was a member of the state constitutional convention of 1850, and was again elected to Congress, serving from 5 December, 1853, to 3 March, 1859. He was re-elected, but died before taking his seat. Regarding slavery, he was in favor of gradual emancipation. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 678.
GOODELL, William, Reverend, 1792-1878, New York City, reformer, temperance activist, radical abolitionist. Manager, 1833-1839, and founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society, December 1833. Published anti-slavery newspaper, The Investigator, founded 1829 in Providence, Rhode Island; merged with the National Philanthropist the same year. Wrote Slavery and Anti-Slavery, 1852. Co-founder of the New York Anti-Slavery Society, 1833. Editor of The Emancipator, and The Friend of Man, in Utica, New York, the paper of the New York Anti-Slavery Society. Co-founded the Anti-Slavery Liberty Party in 1840. Was its nominee for President in 1852 and 1860. Was co-founder of the Liberty League in 1848. In 1850, edited American Jubilee, later called The Radical Abolitionist. (Blue, 2005, pp. 19, 20, 23, 25, 32, 34, 50, 53, 54, 101; Drake, 1950, p. 177; Dumond, 1961, pp. 167, 182, 264-265, 295; Goodell, 1852; Mabee, 1970, pp. 48, 107, 187, 228, 246, 249, 252, 300, 333, 341, 387n11, 388n27; Mitchell, 2007, pp. 1, 7, 22, 29, 31, 35, 46, 63, 64, 71, 72, 162-163, 199, 225, 257n; Pease, 1965, pp. 411-417; Sorin, 1971, pp. 411-417; Van Broekhoven, 2001, pp. 30-31, 35-36, 87; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 4, Pt. 1, p. 384; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 9, p. 236)
GOODFELLOW, Henry, soldier, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 27 August, 1833; died in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 29 December 1885, accompanied the Arctic Expedition of Dr. Elisha K. Kane from May, 1853, until October, 1855, and received the medals presented by the British government to those who served on expeditions in search of Sir John Franklin. Subsequently he studied law, and was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar in 1859, and to practise before the U. S. Circuit Court in 1861. He entered the National Army as captain in the 61st Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served continuously with the Army of the Potomac until the battles of the Wilderness and Spottsylvania, receiving the brevets of lieutenant-colonel and colonel for gallant conduct in the battles of Gettysburg and the Wilderness. In February, 1867, he became major and judge-advocate in the U. S. Army, and at the time of his death was judge-advocate of the Department of the Missouri. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 679.
GOODLOE, Daniel Reaves, 1814-1902, Louisburg, North Carolina, abolitionist. Associate editor and editor of anti-slavery newspaper, The National Era, in Washington, DC, the newspaper of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. Worked with abolitionist leader Gamaliel Bailey. Goodloe also wrote for the New York Tribune. He was a friend of Horace Greeley and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Goodloe wrote Inquiry into the Causes Which Have Retarded the Accumulation of Wealth and Increase of Population in the Southern States: In Which the Question of Slavery is Considered in a Politico-Economical Point of View. By a Carolinian. [1846]. (Dumond, 1961, p. 265; Filler, 1960, pp. 63, 116, 122, 152, 156, 240, 261, 263-264; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 39, 162; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 4, Pt. 1, p. 390)
GOODNOW, Isaac Tichenor, 1814-1894, Boston, MA, abolitionist, educator, political leader. Actively supported the New England Emigrant Aid Company and its effort to keep Kansas as a free state. Went to Kansas to support the movement.
GOODRICH, Joseph, 1800-1867, businessman, politician, abolitionist. Active in local Underground Railroad.
GOODWIN, E. W., New York, abolitionist leader (Sorin, 1971)
GOODWIN, William Frederick, author, born in Limington, Maine, 27 September, 1823: died in Concord, New Hampshire, 12 March, 1872. He was graduated at Bowdoin in 1848, and taught in a high-school in Concord, New Hampshire, and in New Bedford, Massachusetts, from 1851 till 1853. He was then graduated at the Harvard law-school in 1854, and began practice in Concord in 1855. He was appointed 1st lieutenant of the 16th regular Infantry in May, 1861, and after acting as mustering officer in New Hampshire, joined his regiment in March, 1863, and was engaged at the actions of Hoover's Gap and Chickamauga, where he was wounded. He was brevetted captain for gallant conduct in that battle, and was retired in 1865, from incapacity resulting from his wound, after receiving his promotion to a captaincy in 1864. After his retirement he was disbursing officer in Rhode Island in 1865, and was afterward on duty in Ohio and in the Department of the Potomac. Captain Goodwin gave much time to antiquarian and historical researches, and was a frequent contributor to the " Historical Magazine." He was the author of a "History of the Constitution of New Hampshire of 1776, 1784, 1792" ; "Records of Narragansett Township, No. 1" (printed privately, 1871); and at his death had in preparation "Narragansett, No. 2," now portions of adjoining towns, which, together with the last-named work, was to constitute a " History of Buxton, Maine, 1733- 1811." He was also engaged on a " Biography of General Alexander Scammel, and left various manuscripts, which have not been published. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 683.
GOODYEAR, Charles, inventor, born in New Haven, Connecticut, 29 December, 1800; died in New York City, 1 July, 1860. He was the son of Amasa Goodyear, who was the first to make hay-forks of spring-steel instead of wrought-iron. The son's education was acquired in the New Haven public schools, and on coming of age he became a member of the firm of A. Goodyear & Sons in Philadelphia. The business proved profitable until 1830, when the failure of southern houses compelled the firm to suspend. Meanwhile the development of the India rubber industry had begun, large quantities of the crude gum were imported into the United States, companies for its manufacture into shoes were organized, and indeed there was an India-rubber mania in the years 1830-'6 similar to the subsequent gold fever and petroleum craze. The products of these companies, however, were unsatisfactory. It was very simple to make shoes in winter, but the heat of the summer soon softened and destroyed them. In 1834 Goodyear first turned his attention to this substance, and from then until his death the idea of producing from it a solid elastic material occupied his entire mind. His experiments were conducted in Philadelphia, New York, and in different towns of Massachusetts, with his family always in want, and himself frequently in prison for debt; but on the receipt of a few dollars he would purchase new materials and renew his investigations. The first gleam of hope that came to him was in 1835, when he found that by boiling a compound of the gum and magnesia in quicklime and water an article was obtained that seemed to be all that he could desire. He obtained a patent for the process, and sold his product readily; but it was soon found that a drop of weak acid, such as apple-juice or vinegar and water, destroyed the effects of the lime and made the cloth sticky. A year later he found that the action of nitric acid on rubber produced a "curing" superior to anything hitherto made. The secret now seemed to be discovered. A partner with ample capital was found, the abandoned rubber-works on Staten Island leased, and a store on Broadway secured, but the panic of 1837 swept away the fortune of his partner, and left Goodyear penniless again. For some time he vainly endeavored to induce someone to furnish him with money, so that he might place his invention on the market. He was regarded as an object of ridicule, and was called an India-rubber maniac. At this period he was described as " a man with an India-rubber coat on, India-rubber shoes, an India-rubber cap, and in his pocket an India-rubber purse and not a cent in it." Failing of success in New York, he settled in Roxbury, Massachusetts, where E. M. Chaffee placed at his disposal the plant of the Roxbury Rubber Company, and for a time he prospered, selling rights under his patents; but the nitric-acid process cured only the surface of the material, and the goods were valueless except in the form of thinnest cloth. His bright prospects vanished, his property was sold, and once more he was penniless. He was strongly urged to discontinue his experiments, but a persistent faith in the ultimate success of his efforts led him to persevere. Meanwhile he found that Nathaniel Hayward (q. v.), in his employ, was in the habit of sprinkling sulphur on the surface of the rubber and drying it in the sun. The effect produced was similar to that obtained by nitric acid, and, believing himself to be on the verge of an important discovery, he continued his experiments. Early in 1839 he found that the application of considerable heat to the sulphured article would cause it to become pliant in cold weather, to have its elasticity increased at all times, and its offensive odor much diminished. After years of patient work, during which he strove to determine the exact conditions under which the most favorable results would ensue, though at times he was so reduced' that he sold his children's school-books to purchase new material, he finally, after being aided by his brother- in-law, William De Forrest, obtained, in 1844, his patent for vulcanized rubber. He continued till his death to improve the process of vulcanization and to extend the uses to which the improved material could be put. As he was unable to comply with certain of the requirements of the law of France, his patent was declared void in that country, and he was equally unfortunate in England. There his method was superseded by that of Thomas Hancock, who " re-discovered " the process after receiving information from Goodyear, with whom he was carrying on negotiations for the introduction of rubber into England. He acquired about sixty patents, and the original vulcanizing patent was extended in 1858, but an application in 1867 was refused, owing to the persistent opposition of those who, during his lifetime, grew rich by infringing on his rights. The benefits conferred on humanity by Goodyear's patents have been nowhere more conspicuous than m connection with the military service during the Civil War. The great council medal of the world's fair held in London in 1851 was conferred on him, and he also received the grand medal of the world's fair held in Paris in 1855 together with the cross of the legion of honor, which was presented to him by Napoleon III. Although he died in debt, he lived to see his material applied to nearly 500 uses, and to give employment to upward of 60,000 persons. Dr. Leander Bishop says: "In the art of modifying the curious native properties of caoutchouc and gutta-percha, and of moulding their plastic elements into a thousand forms of beauty and utility, whether hard or soft, smooth or corrugated, rigid or elastic, American ingenuity and patient experiment have never been excelled.- See Bradford K. Peirce's "Trials of an Inventor" (New York. 1866), and Parton's " Famous Americans of Recent Times " (Boston, 1867). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 683-684.
GORDON, George Henry, soldier, born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, 19 July, 1825. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1846, and assigned to the mounted rifles. In the Mexican War he was engaged in the siege of Vera Cruz in March, 1847, in the battle of Cerro Gordo, 17-18 April, where he was wounded and brevetted 1st lieutenant, took part in the battles of Contreras and Chapultepec, and in the assault and capture of the city of Mexico. In a hand-to-hand encounter with two guerillas near the San Juan Bridge on 21 December, 1847, he was severely wounded. On 8 January, 1848, he was promoted 2d lieutenant and assigned to recruiting service. Ill health necessitated leave of absence in 1848-'9, when he was assigned to duty in the cavalry school for practice at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. From 1850 till 1854 he was on frontier duty, and was promoted to a 1st lieutenancy, 30 August, 1853. He resigned, 31 October, 1854, studied law, and entered upon practice in Boston in 1857. At the beginning of the Civil War he raised the 2d Massachusetts Regiment, became its colonel on 24 May, 1861, and was made military governor of Harper's Ferry. In 1862 he commanded a brigade under General Banks, and for his conduct in the retreat from Strasburg to Williamsport was made brigadier-general of volunteers on 9 June, 1862. He was engaged in a large number of battles and skirmishes, took part in the North Virginia and Maryland Campaigns, was in the second battle of Bull Run, and at Antietam fought with his brigade in General Alpheus D. Williams's division of Mansfield's 12th Corps, and guarded the upper Potomac at Harper's Ferry in September to December, 1862. He was with the Army of the Potomac in pursuit of the Confederate Army from the Potomac to Warrenton in July, 1863, engaged in operations about Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, from August, 1863, till April, 1864, was in command of Florida in May, guarded and kept open the communications by White River with Little Rock, Arkansas, in July, and took part in the operations against Mobile in August. From November, 1864, till 16 June, 1865, he was on duty in the department of Virginia in command of the Eastern District, and was brevetted major-general of volunteers on 9 April, 1865. He was mustered out of service on 24 August, 1865, and returned to the practice of law in Boston. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 685.
GORDON, John Brown, governor of Georgia, born in Uspon County, Georgia, 6 February, 1832. He was educated at the University of Georgia, studied law and was admitted to the bar, but had practised only a short time when he entered the Confederate Army as a captain of infantry. He rose successively to the rank of lieutenant-general. He commanded one wing of Lee's army at Appomattox Court-House, and was wounded in battle eight times during the war. He was the Democratic candidate for governor of Georgia in 1868, but, though his election was claimed by his party, his opponent, Rufus B. Bullock, secured the office. He was a member of the National Democratic Conventions of 1868 and 1872, presidential elector for the same years, and in January. 1873, was elected to the U. S. Senate. He was reelected in 1879, but resigned his seat in 1880. He took an active part in the proceedings of the Senate, and gave a moderate support to the administration of President Hayes. In 1886 he was elected governor of Georgia. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 686.
GORGAS, Josiah, soldier, born in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, 1 July, 1818; died in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 15 May, 1883. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1841 and assigned to the ordnance corps. He served with credit in the Mexican War, rising to the rank of captain in 1855. After acting in various arsenals as assistant he resigned at the beginning of the Civil War, and was placed at the head of the Confederate ordnance department with the rank of brigadier general. After the close of the war he devoted himself to business. He was elected vice-chancellor of the University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee, in 1872, and was made president of the University of Alabama in 1878, where he remained until he was compelled to resign owing to failing health. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 687.
GORMAN, Willis Arnold, soldier, born near Flemingsburg, Kentucky, 12 January, 1814: died in St. Paul, Minnesota, 20 May, 1876. He was graduated at the law-school of the University of Indiana, was admitted to the bar, and began to practice in Bloomington, Indiana, in 1835. In 1837 and 1838 he was a clerk in the state senate, and was afterward several times elected to that body as a Democrat. He was appointed major of General Lane's Regiment of Indiana Volunteers in 1846, served in the Mexican War, and led an independent rifle battalion at the battle of Buena Vista, where he was severely wounded. In 1847 he was made colonel of the 4th Indiana Regiment, which he commanded in several battles. In 1848 he was civil and military governor of Puebla, Mexico. From 1849 till 1853 he was a representative to Congress from Indiana, having been chosen as a Democrat. In 1852 he addressed large meetings in favor of General Pierce's election to the presidency. He was appointed governor of the territory of Minnesota in 1853, and ex-officio superintendent of Indians, which offices he held till 1857. In that year he was a delegate to the state constitutional convention, he represented St. Paul in the Minnesota legislature in 1858, and in 1860 was a candidate for presidential elector on the Douglas ticket. He practised law in St. Paul till 1861, when he was made colonel of the 1st Minnesota Regiment, and served in the battle of Bull Run. He was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers on 7 September, 1861, led a bayonet charge at Fair Oaks, and commanded a brigade at South Mountain and Antietam. He was at the head of the 2d Division, 2d Corps, till the reorganization of the army following General McClellan's removal. In 1864 he was mustered out of the service and resumed his law practice in St. Paul. He was elected city attorney in 1869, and held this office till his death. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 689.
GORRINGE, Henry Honeychurch, naval officer, born in Barbadoes, W. I., 11 August, 1841; died in New York, 7 July, 1885. He was the son of an English clergyman of the established church, came to the United States at an early age, and entered the merchant-marine service. At the beginning of the Civil War he enlisted in the National service as a common sailor, 13 July, 1862. Three months later he was attached to the Mississippi Squadron, and by 1865 had risen through successive promotions for gallantry to the rank of acting volunteer lieutenant. He was promoted to lieutenant-commander on 18 December, 1868, and from 1869 till 1871 commanded the sloop "Portsmouth " in the South Atlantic Squadron. He was engaged in the Hydrographic Office in Washington, D. C., from 1872 till 1876, when he was sent with the "Gettysburg" on special service in the Mediterranean, where he remained till 1878, contributing letters to the New York "Nation." He was brought into notice in 1880 by his work of transporting and erecting an Egyptian obelisk that had been offered to the United States by the Khedive Ismail in 1879 at the opening of the Suez canal. On arriving in Alexandria on 16 October, 1879. Commander Gorringe began his operations with the assistance of 100 Arabs, and on 6 November had removed 1,730 cubic yards of earth from around the pedestal of the obelisk. By means of simple and original machinery devised by Gorringe, the monolith was removed from its pedestal and placed in a horizontal position on 6 December, 1879. The iron steamer " Dessoug," owned by the Egyptian government, was then purchased from Mahomet Tewfik for £5,100, and the obelisk was introduced into the hold through an aperture made for the purpose. The mechanism by which the obelisk was confined in the vessel was entirely of Commander Gorringe's construction, and consisted of innumerable beams of steel and wood. The obelisk arrived in New York on 20 July, 1880. By the aid of iron tracks and cannon-balls the monolith was conveyed from the North River to Central Park, where, on 22 January, 1881, it was erected on the same pedestal on which it had rested in Egypt. The height of the shaft is CO feet. It was erected by Thothmes III. at Heliopolis about 1600 B.C., and removed to Alexandria in 22 B. C. The total expense of its removal to New York and erection in Central Park was $103,732, and was paid by William H. Vanderbilt. Subsequently Commander Gorringe criticised naval matters in public with great freedom, and, on being called to account by the department, offered his resignation, which was accepted. He then engaged actively in forming the American Ship-building Company, in which he had a controlling interest. He secured several contracts for the construction of vessels, and leased the Reading Railroad ship-yard at Port Richmond, Philadelphia, but owing to a want of capital the enterprise proved a failure. Several months before his death in jumping on a train while it was in motion, he received an injury from which he never recovered. The monument erected by friends over his grave at Sparkill, on the Hudson, New York, is an exact copy, on a reduced scale, of the obelisk that he transported from Egypt. (See illustration.) He published a "History of Egyptian Obelisks" (New York, 1885). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 689-690.
GOVE, William Hazeltine, politician, born in Weare, New Hampshire, 10 July, 1817: died there, 11 March, 1876. He received a common-school education, taught in Lynn, Massachusetts, one Year, and an equal length of time in Rochester, New York. He also studied law a short time in Boston. He early became an active worker in the anti-slavery cause, a supporter of the Liberty Party, and later a prominent Free-Soiler. While connected with the latter party he became well known as a stump speaker, and gained the title of the " silver-tongued orator of New Hampshire." He was a member of the first Free-Soil Convention, held in Buffalo, New York, in 1848, was a candidate of his party for the legislature year after year, and in 1851, by a combination of Free-Soilers and Whigs, he was elected. He was re-elected in 1852 and 1855. After the Free-Soil organization was merged in the Republican Party, Mr. Gove was for many years an active Republican. During the administrations of Lincoln and Johnston he held the office of postmaster. In 1871, having become dissatisfied with his party, he engaged in forming a labor reform party, whose voters, combining with the Democrats, elected him to the lower branch of the legislature, of which body he was chosen speaker. In 1872 he was a delegate to the Liberal Republican Convention at Cincinnati, and acted thence forth with the Democratic Party, which elected him to the state senate in 187&-'4." In the latter year he was made its president. As a young man Mr. Gove was engaged in the Washingtonian temperance movement, and spoke and wrote eloquently in aid of the cause. He edited for a short time the "Temperance Banner." published at Concord. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 697-698.
GRAFTON, Edward C., naval officer, born in Boston, Massachusetts; died in New York City, 24 June, 1876. His father, Joseph, rose to the rank of major in the regular army, won distinction in the war of 1812, and afterward became surveyor of customs in Boston. The son entered the U.S. Navy as midshipman in 1841, and became passed midshipman in 1847. He was commissioned lieutenant, 10 September, 1855: lieutenant-commander, 16 July, 1862; commander. 20 December, 1866, and was retired, 18 January, 1871. At the time when the Confederate ram "Merrimac" attempted to raise the blockade. Lieutenant Grafton was flag-officer of the frigate "Minnesota," then lying near the mouth of the James River. In the engagement that followed in Hampton Roads he played an active part. On being commissioned lieutenant-commander he was placed in command of the steam gun-boat " Genesee," and participated in the bombardment of Fort Morgan, Mobile Bay. In 1866 he was in command of the " Gettysburg," of the North Atlantic Squadron. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 700.
GRAHAM, Charles Kinnaird, civil engineer, born in New York City, 3 June, 1824. He was entered in the U. S. Navy as midshipman in 1841, and served in the Gulf during the war with Mexico, at the close of which, in 1848, he resigned, returned to New York, and devoted himself for several years to the study of engineering. About 1857 he was appointed constructing engineer of the Brooklyn Navy-yard, the dry-dock and landing-ways being built under his supervision. At the beginning of the Civil War he volunteered in the National Army, about 400 men in his employ in the U.S. Navy-yard following his example. The Excelsior brigade was organized, in which Graham subsequently became major and colonel. Throughout the early part of the contest he was actively engaged in the Army of the Potomac. In November, 1862. he was commissioned brigadier-general, and fought at the battle of Gettysburg, where he was severely wounded. He was afterward assigned to the command of a gun-boat flotilla on the James River under General Butler, and was the first to carry the national colors up that river. He subsequently took part in the attack on Fort Fisher, and remained on duty at different points until the close of the war, when he returned to the practice of engineering in New York City. He was brevetted major-general of volunteers 13 March, 1865. Among the enterprises with which he has since been connected are the Broadway Pavement Commission and the Beach Pneumatic Transit Company. General Graham was chief engineer of the dock department from 1873 till 1875, and surveyor of the Port of New York from 1878 till 1883, when he became naval officer, and held that post until 1885. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 700-701.
GRAHAM, William Alexander, senator, born in Lincoln County, North Carolina, 5 September, 1804; died in Saratoga Springs, New York, 11 August, 1875. Graham was graduated at the University of North Carolina in 1824, admitted to the bar at Newbern, North Carolina, and began to practice law in Hillsborough. He was several times elected to the state legislature between 1833 and 1840, and was more than once chosen speaker. In 1840 he was elected to the U. S. Senate to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Robert Strange, serving from 10 December, 1840, to 3 March, 1843. In 1844 he was elected governor by the Whigs on a larger vote than was ever before polled. He was re-elected in 1846 by an increased majority, but declined a third term, and retired to private life. He was offered the Spanish mission by President Taylor in 1849, but declined it, and in 1850 became Secretary of the Navy in Fillmore's Cabinet, but resigned in 1852 in consequence of having been nominated by the Whigs for vice-president on the ticket with General Scott. During his term of office as secretary he projected and carried out the important expedition to Japan under Commodore Perry. Governor Graham served as senator in the 2d Confederate Congress from 22 February, 1864, until the end of the war. He was also a delegate to the Union Convention at Philadelphia in 1866, which was called to sustain the policy of Andrew Johnson. At the time of his death he was acting as one of a commission that had been appointed to settle the boundary dispute between the states of Maryland and Virginia. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 701-702
GRAHAM, James Duncan, topographical engineer, born in Prince William County, Virginia, 4 April, 1799; died in Boston, Massachusetts, 28 December, 1865 Graham was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1817, and became lieutenant of artillery. He was promoted several steps in this arm of the service, and employed on topographical duty, but it was not until 1829 that his specialty was recognized. He was then brevetted captain and afterward major, that he might enter the Corps of Topographical Engineers, receiving the full commission of major in 1838. In 1839-'40 he was astronomer of the surveying party that, in behalf of the United States, established the boundary-line between the latter and the then new Republic of Texas. In 1840 he was appointed commissioner for the survey and exploration of the northeast boundary of the United States, and was employed along the Maine and New York frontiers until 1843. In the same year he was ordered to duty as astronomer on the part of the United States for the joint demarcation of the boundary between the United States and the British provinces, under the Treaty of Washington. He was thus employed during the Mexican War. On its conclusion he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel, the commission reading, "for valuable and highly distinguished services, particularly on the boundary line between the United States and the provinces of Canada and New Brunswick." In 1850 Colonel Graham was engaged by the states of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, to examine certain disputed questions regarding the intersection of the boundary-line of those states. He made a thorough survey of the line originally made by Mason and Dixon, and published a voluminous report thereon. He was employed in the final settlement of the questions resulting from the war with Mexico, and during 1851 was U. S. astronomer in the survey of the boundary-line between this country and Mexico. For the next ten years he was in charge of various harbor improvements on the northern and northwestern lakes, in which he discovered the existence of a lunar tide (1858-'9). At the time of his death he was superintending engineer of the sea-walls in Boston Harbor, and of the repairs of harbor works on the Atlantic Coast from Maine to the capes of the Chesapeake. He was promoted to be colonel of the Engineer Corps, 1 June, 1803. He was a member of several scientific societies. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 704.
GRAHAM, Lawrence Pike, soldier, born in Amelia County, Virginia, 8 January, 1815, was appointed 2d lieutenant of the 2d dragoons in 1837, and subsequently promoted 1st lieutenant and captain. In 1842 he served in the campaign against the Seminoles, and was present at the battle of Lochahatehee. In the Mexican War he was brevetted major for gallantry in the engagements at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, and promoted major, 14 June, 1858. In October. 1861, he was made lieutenant-colonel of the 5th Cavalry , colonel 4th Cavalry , 9 May, 1864, and brevet brigadier-general for meritorious services during the Civil War, 13 March, 1865. Previously, in August, 1861, he was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers, and in 1862 raised and commanded a brigade of cavalry in the Army of the Potomac. He afterward acted as president of a general court-martial at St. Louis, and of a board for the examination of invalid officers at Annapolis. He was mustered out of the volunteer service, 24 August, 1865, and placed on the retired list, 15 December, 1870. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 704.
GRANDY, Moses, c. 1786-?, African American, former slave, anti-slavery activist, author of slave narrative. Moses Grandy was an enslaved person for more than 40 years. He was the author of Narrative of the Life of Moses Grandy, Late a Slave in the United States of America, published in 1843. This was an important slave narrative, widely distributed in America and in Europe. It was influential in supporting the cause of abolition. (Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., & Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, eds. African American National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2013, Vol. 5, p. 139)
GRANGER, Amos Phelps, cousin of Francis, politician, born in Suffield, Connecticut, 3 June, 1789; died in Syracuse, New York, 20 August, 1866, settled in Manlius, Onondaga County, New York, in 1811, and engaged in mercantile business. He raised and commanded a company of militia that served at Sackett's Harbor in the war of 1813—'15. He moved to Syracuse in 1820, and acquired a fortune through real-estate investments. He was chairman of the Whig delegation from New York in the National Convention of 1852 that nominated Winfield Scott for the presidency, in the Auburn Convention of 1853 he wrote and offered the resolutions which, it is claimed, originated the Republican Party. He was elected to Congress in 1854 and in 1856. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 706
GRANGER, Gordon, soldier, born in New York in 1821; died in Santa Fe, New Mexico, 10 January, 1876. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1845, and took part in the principal battles of the Mexican War, being brevetted 1st lieutenant and captain for bravery at Contreras and Churubusco and at Chapultepec. When the Civil War began he served on the staff of General McClellan in Ohio, then in Missouri, being engaged at Dug Spring, and brevetted major for gallant services at Wilson's Creek, and on 2 September, 1861, became colonel of the 2d Michigan Cavalry. On 26 March, 1862, he was made a brigadier-general, and commanded the cavalry in the operations that led to the fall of Corinth. He became a major-general of volunteers on 17 September, 1862, and was placed in command of the Army of Kentucky. He conducted operations in Tennessee in the spring of 1863, repelled Forrest's raid in June, and took part in Rosecrans's Tennessee Campaign. He distinguished himself in the battle of Chickamauga, was soon afterward assigned to the command of the 4th Army Corps, and took a prominent part in the operations around Chattanooga and in the battle of Missionary Ridge. He commanded a division at Fort Gaines, Alabama, in August, 1864, and was in command of the 13th Army Corps in the capture of Fort Morgan, and throughout the operations that resulted in the fall of Mobile in the spring of 1865. He was brevetted lieutenant-colonel and colonel, U. S. Army, for services at Chickamauga and Chattanooga, brigadier-general for gallantry in the capture of Mobile, and major-general for the capture of Forts Gaines and Morgan. He was mustered out of the volunteer service on 15 January, 1866, was promoted colonel on 28 July, 1866, and at the time of his death commanded the District of New Mexico. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 706.
GRANGER, Robert Seaman, soldier, born in Zanesville, Ohio, 24 May, 1816. His father was a cousin of Gideon Granger, and his mother a sister of Attorney-General Henry Stanbery. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1838, became a 1st lieutenant of infantry in 1839, served in the Florida War, and was assistant instructor of tactics at West Point in 1843-'4. He served in the war with Mexico, receiving promotion as captain on 8 September, 1847, and afterward on the Texas frontier. On 27 April, 1861, he was captured with Major Sibley's command on the coast of Texas, and put on parole not to serve in the field till August, 1862, when he was exchanged. He was made a major on 9 September, 1861, organized a brigade at Mansfield, Ohio, was commandant at Louisville. Kentucky, and on 1 Sept., 1862, was commissioned brigadier-general of Kentucky volunteers, and commanded the Kentucky state troops, being engaged at Shepherdsville. in the skirmish at Lebanon Junction, and in the action at Lawrenceburg, for which he was brevetted colonel, U. S. Army. He received his commission as brigadier-general of U. S. volunteers on 20 October, 1862, and commanded a division, and during 1863 the Districts of Nashville and Middle Tennessee consecutively. In the first part of 1864 he superintended the defences and organized the depot at Nashville. He was then assigned to the command of the District of Northern Alabama, and was engaged in the capture of General Roddy's camp, in the expulsion of General Wheeler from middle Tennessee, and in the defence against General Forrest's raid. In October, 1864, he defended Decatur against General Hood's army, made a sortie on the Confederate siege-works, and received the brevet of brigadier-general for these services, he commanded in northern Alabama in 1865 during the occupation. He was brevetted major-general, U. S. Army, for services during the rebellion, was promoted lieutenant-colonel on 12 June, 1865, colonel on 16 August, 1871, and was placed on the retired list on 1 January, 1873. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 706.
GRANT, Lewis A., soldier, born in Vermont about 1820. He was commissioned major of the 5th Vermont Infantry. 15 August, 1861; lieutenant-colonel, 25 September, 1861; and colonel, 16 Sept, 1862. He commanded the 2d Brigade of the 2d Division , 6th Corps, at the battle of Chancellorsville, and was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers, 27 April, 1864. He was brevetted major-general of volunteers on 19 October, 1864, and mustered out of service. 24 August, 1865. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 708.
GRANT, Ulysses S., eighteenth president of the United States, born at Point Pleasant, Clermont County, Ohio, 27 April, 1822; died on Mount McGregor, near Saratoga, New York, 23 July, 1885. (See the accompanying view of Grant's birthplace.) He was of Scottish ancestry, but his family had been American in all its branches for eight generations. He was a descendant of Matthew Grant, who arrived at Dorchester, Massachusetts, in May, 1630. His father was Jesse R. Grant, and his mother Hannah Simpson. They were married in June, 1821, in Clermont County, Ohio. Ulysses, the oldest of six children, spent his boyhood in assisting his father on the farm, a work more congenial to his tastes than working in the tannery of which his father was proprietor. He attended the village school, and in the spring of 1839 was appointed to a cadetship in the U. S. Military Academy by Thomas L. Hamer, M. C. The name given him at birth was Hiram Ulysses, but he was always called by his middle name. Mr. Hamer, thinking this his first name, and that his middle name was probably that of his mother's family, inserted in the official appointment the name of Ulysses S. The officials at West Point were notified by Cadet Grant of the error, but they did not feel authorized to correct it, and it was acquiesced in and became the name by which he was always known. As a student, Grant showed the greatest proficiency in mathematics, but he gained a fair standing in most of his studies, and at cavalry-drill he proved himself the best horseman in his class, and afterward was one of the best in the army. He was graduated in 1843, standing twenty-first in a class of thirty-nine. He was commissioned, on graduation, as a brevet 2d lieutenant, and was attached to the 4th U.S. Infantry and assigned to duty at Jefferson barracks, near St. Louis. (See portrait taken at this period on page 711.) In May, 1844, he accompanied his regiment to Camp Salubrity, Louisiana. He was commissioned 2d lieutenant in September, 1845. That month he went with his regiment to Corpus Christi (now in Texas) to join the army of occupation, under command of General Zachary Taylor.
He participated in the battle of Palo Alto, 8 May, 1846; and in that of Resaca de la Palma, 9 May, he commanded his company. On 19 August he set out with the army for Monterey, Mexico, which was reached on 19 September He had been appointed regimental quartermaster of the 4th Infantry, and was placed in charge of the wagons and pack-train on this march. During the assault of the 21st on Black Fort, one of the works protecting Monterey, instead of remaining in camp in charge of the quartermaster's stores, he charged with his regiment, on horseback, being almost the only officer in the regiment that was mounted. The adjutant was killed in the charge, and Lieutenant Grant was designated to take his place. On the 23d, when the troops had gained a position in the city of Monterey, a volunteer was called for to make his way to the rear under a heavy fire, to order up ammunition, Lieutenant Grant volunteered, and ran the gauntlet in safety, accomplishing his mission. Garland's brigade, to which the 4th Infantry belonged, was transferred from Twiggs's to Worth's division, and ordered back to the mouth of the Rio Grande, where it embarked for Vera Cruz, to join the army under General Scott. It landed near that city on 9 March, 1847, and the investment was immediately begun. Lieutenant Grant served with his regiment during the siege, until the capture of the place, 29 March, 1847. On 13 April his division began its march toward the city of Mexico; and he participated in the battle of Cerro Gordo, 17 and 18 April. The troops entered Pueblo on 15 May, and Lieutenant Grant was there ordered to take charge of a large train of wagons, with an escort of fewer than a thousand men, to obtain forage. He made a two days' march and procured the necessary supplies. He participated in the capture of San Antonio and the battle of Churubusco, 20 August, and the battle of Molino del Rey, 8 September, 1847. In the latter engagement he was with the first troops that entered the mills. Seeing some of the enemy on the top of a building, he took a few men, climbed to the roof, received the surrender of six officers and quite a number of men. For this service he was brevetted a 1st lieutenant. He was engaged in the storming of Chapultepec on 13 September, distinguished himself by conspicuous services, was highly commended in the reports of his superior officers, and brevetted captain. While the troops were advancing against the city of Mexico on the 14th, observing a church from the top of which he believed the enemy could be dislodged from a defensive work, he called for volunteers, and with twelve men of the 4th Infantry, who were afterward joined by a detachment of artillery, he made a flank movement, gained the church, mounted a howitzer in the belfry, using it with such effect that General Worth sent for him and complimented him in person. He entered the city of Mexico with the army, 14 September, and a few days afterward was promoted to be 1st lieutenant. He remained with the army in the city of Mexico till the withdrawal of the troops in the summer of 1848, and then accompanied his regiment to Pascagoula, Mississippi. He there obtained leave of absence and went to St. Louis, where, on 22 August, 1848, he married Miss Julia B. Dent, sister of one of his classmates. He was soon afterward ordered to Sackett's Harbor, New York, and in April following to Detroit, Michigan. In the spring of 1851 he was again transferred to Sackett's Harbor, and on 5 July, 1852, he sailed from New York with his regiment for California via the Isthmus of Panama. While the troops were crossing the isthmus, cholera carried off one seventh of the command. Lieutenant Grant was left behind in charge of the sick, on Chagres River, and displayed great skill and devotion in caring for them and supplying means of transportation. On arriving in California, he spent a few weeks with his regiment at Benicia barracks, and then accompanied it to Fort Vancouver, Oregon. On 5 August, 1853, he was promoted to the captaincy of a company stationed at Humboldt Bay, California, and in September he went to that post.
He resigned his commission, 31 July, 1854, and settled on a small farm near St. Louis. He was engaged in farming and in the real-estate business in St. Louis until May, 1860, when he moved to Galena, Illinois, and there became a clerk in the hardware and leather store of his father, who in a letter to General Jas. Grant Wilson, dated 20 March, 1868, writes: “After Ulysses's farming and real-estate experiments in St. Louis County, Missouri, failed to be self-supporting, he came to me at this place [Covington, Kentucky] for advice and assistance. I referred him to Simpson, my next oldest son, who had charge of my Galena business, and who was staying with me on account of ill health. Simpson sent him to the Galena store, to stay until something else might turn up in his favor, and told him he must confine his wants within $800 a year. That if that would not support him he must draw what it lacked from the rent of his house and the hire of his Negroes in St. Louis. He went to Galena in April, 1860, about one year before the capture of Sumter; then he left. That amount would have supported his family then, but he owed debts at St. Louis, and did draw $1,500 in the year, but he paid back the balance after he went into the army.” When news was received of the beginning of the Civil War, a public meeting was called in Galena, and Captain Grant was chosen to preside. He took a pronounced stand in favor of the Union cause and a vigorous prosecution of the war. A company of volunteers was raised, which he drilled and accompanied to Springfield, Illinois. Governor Yates, of that state, employed Captain Grant in the adjutant-general's department, and appointed him mustering officer. He offered his services to the National government in a letter written on May 24, 1861, but no answer was ever made to it. On 17 June he was appointed colonel of the 21st Illinois Regiment of Infantry, which had been mustered in at Mattoon. The regiment was transferred to Springfield, and on 3 July he went with it from that place to Palmyra, Missouri, thence to Salt River, where it guarded a portion of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, and thence to the town of Mexico, where General Pope was stationed as commander of the military district. On 31 July, Grant was assigned to the command of a sub-district under General Pope, his troops consisting of three regiments of infantry and a section of artillery. He was appointed a brigadier-general of volunteers on 7 August, the commission being dated back to 17 May, and was ordered to Ironton, Missouri, to take command of a district in that part of the state, where he arrived 8 August Ten days afterward he was ordered to St. Louis, and thence to Jefferson City. Eight days later he was directed to report in person at St. Louis, and on reaching there found that he had been assigned to the command of the District of southeastern Missouri, embracing all the territory in Missouri south of St. Louis, and all southern Illinois, with permanent headquarters at Cairo. He established temporary headquarters at Cape Giradeau, on the Mississippi, to superintend the fitting out of an expedition against the Confederate Colonel Jeff. Thompson, and arrived at Cairo on 4 September The next day he received information that the enemy was about to seize Paducah, Kentucky, at the mouth of the Tennessee, having already occupied Columbus and Hickman. He moved that night with two regiments of infantry and one battery of artillery, and occupied Paducah the next morning. He issued a proclamation to the citizens, saying, “I have nothing to do with opinions, and shall deal only with armed rebellion and its aiders and abettors.” Kentucky had declared an intention to remain neutral in the war, and this prompt occupation of Paducah prevented the Confederates from getting a foothold there, and did much toward retaining the state within the Union lines. General Sterling Price was advancing into Missouri with a Confederate force, and Grant was ordered, 1 November, to make a demonstration on both sides of the Mississippi, to prevent troops from being sent from Columbus and other points to re-enforce Price. On 6 November, Grant moved down the river with about 3,000 men on steamboats, accompanied by two gun-boats, debarked a few men on the Kentucky side that night, and learned that troops of the enemy were being ferried across from Columbus to re-enforce those on the west side of the river. A Confederate camp was established opposite, at Belmont, and Grant decided to attack it. On the morning of the 7th he debarked his troops three miles above the place, left a strong guard near the landing, and marched to the attack with about 2,500 men. A spirited engagement took place, in which Grant's horse was shot under him. The enemy was routed and his camp captured, but he soon rallied, and was re-enforced by detachments ferried across from Columbus, and Grant fell back and re-embarked. He got his men safely on the steamboats, and was himself the last one in the command to step aboard. He captured 175 prisoners and two guns, and spiked four other pieces, and lost 485 men. The Confederates lost 642. The opposing troops, including re-enforcements sent from Columbus, numbered about 7,000.
In January, 1862, he made a reconnaissance in force toward Columbus. He was struck with the advantage possessed by the enemy in holding Fort Henry on Tennessee River, and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland, and conceived the idea of capturing them before they could be further strengthened, by means of an expedition composed of the troops under his command, assisted by the gun-boats. He went to St. Louis and submitted his proposition to the department commander, General Halleck, but was listened to with impatience, and his views were not approved. On 28 January he telegraphed Halleck, renewing the suggestion, and saying, “If permitted, I could take and hold Fort Henry on the Tennessee.” Commodore Foote, commanding the gun-boats, sent a similar despatch. On the 29th Grant also wrote urging the expedition. Assent was obtained on 1 February, and the expedition moved the next day. General Tilghman surrendered Fort Henry on the 6th, after a bombardment by the gun-boats. He with his staff and ninety men were captured, but most of the garrison escaped and joined the troops in Fort Donelson, eleven miles distant, commanded by General Floyd, who, after this re-enforcement, had about 21,000 men. Grant at once appeared to invest Donelson, and on the 12th began the siege with a command numbering 15,000, which was increased on the 14th to 27,000; but about 5,000 of these were employed in guarding roads and captured places. His artillery consisted of eight light batteries. The weather was extremely cold, the water high, much rain and snow fell, and the sufferings of the men were intense. The enemy's position, naturally strong, had been intrenched and fortified. There was heavy fighting on three successive days. On the 15th the enemy, fearing capture, made a desperate assault with the intention of cutting his way out. Grant detected the object of the movement, repelled the assault, and by a vigorous attack secured so commanding a position that the enemy saw further resistance would be useless. Floyd turned over the command to Pillow, who in turn resigned it to Buckner, and Floyd and Pillow escaped in the night on a steamboat. Over 3,000 infantry and the greater portion of Forrest's cavalry made their escape at the same time. On the 16th Buckner wrote proposing that commissioners be appointed to arrange for terms of capitulation. General Grant replied: “No terms other than an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works.” The garrison was surrendered the same day, unconditionally. The capture included 14,623 men, 65 cannon, and 17,600 small-arms. The killed and wounded numbered about 2,500. Grant's loss was 2,041 in killed, wounded, and missing. This was the first capture of a prominent strategic point since the war began, and indeed the only substantial victory thus far for the National arms. It opened up two important navigable rivers, and left the enemy no strong foothold in Kentucky or Tennessee. Grant was soon afterward made a major-general of volunteers, his commission dating from 16 February, and his popularity throughout the country began from that day. He urged a prompt following up of this victory, and set out for Nashville, 28 February, without waiting for instructions, but telegraphing that he should go if he received no orders to the contrary. For this, and under the pretence that he had not forwarded to his superiors in command certain reports showing the strength and positions of his forces, he was deprived of his command, and ordered to remain at Fort Henry. He was not restored to command until 13 March, when his services were again required in view of the enemy's having concentrated a large army near Corinth, Mississippi, and he transferred his headquarters to Savannah, on Tennessee River, on the 17th. He found the forces under his command, numbering about 38,000 men, encamped on both sides of the river, and at once transferred them all to the west side and concentrated them in the vicinity of Pittsburg Landing. He there selected a favorable position, and put his army in line, with the right resting at Shiloh Church, nearly three miles from the river. He was directed not to attack the enemy, but to await the arrival of General Buell's army of 40,000 men, which was marching southward through Tennessee to join Grant. On 6 April the Confederate Army, numbering nearly 50,000 men, commanded by General Albert S. Johnston, made a vigorous attack at daylight, drove the National troops back in some confusion, and continued to press the advantage gained during the entire day. General Johnston was killed about one o'clock, and the command of the Confederates devolved upon General Beauregard; 5,000 of Grant's troops did not arrive on the field during the day, so that his command was outnumbered, and it required all his efforts to hold his position on the river until evening. Late in the afternoon the head of Buell's column crossed the river, but not in time to participate actively in the fighting, as the enemy's attacks had ceased. Grant sought shelter that night in a hut; but the surgeons had made an amputating hospital of it, and he found the sight so painful that he went out into the rain-storm and slept under a tree. He had given orders for an advance all along the lines the next morning. Buell's troops had now joined him, and the attack was pushed with such vigor that the enemy were steadily driven back, and retreated nineteen miles to Corinth. On this day Grant's sword-scabbard was broken by a bullet. His loss in the battle was 1,754 killed, 8,408 wounded, 2,885 missing; total, 13,047. The enemy acknowledged a loss of 1,728 killed, 8,012 wounded, and 957 missing; total, 10,699; but there are evidences that it was much greater. The National officers estimated the Confederate dead alone at 4,000. On the 11th General Halleck arrived at headquarters, and took command in person. The forces consisted now of the right and left wings, centre, and reserve, commanded respectively by Gens. Thomas, Pope, Buell, and McClernand, numbering in all nearly 120,000 men. The enemy was behind strong fortifications, and numbered over 50,000. Grant was named second in command of all the troops, but was especially intrusted with the right wing and reserve. On April 30 an advance was begun against Corinth, but the enemy evacuated the place and retreated, without fighting, on 30 May. On 21 June, Grant moved his headquarters to Memphis. General Halleck was appointed general-in-chief of all the armies, 11 July. Grant returned to Corinth on 15 July, and on the 17th Halleck set out for Washington, leaving Grant in command of the Army of the Tennessee; and on 25 October he was assigned to the command of the Department of the Tennessee, including Cairo, Forts Henry and Donelson, northern Mississippi, and portions of Kentucky and Tennessee west of Tennessee River. He ordered a movement against the enemy at Iuka to capture Price's force at that place, and a battle was fought on 19 and 20 September The plan promised success, but the faults committed by the officer commanding one wing of the troops engaged permitted the enemy to escape. The National loss was 736, that of the Confederates 1,438. Grant strengthened the position around Corinth, and remained there about eight weeks. When the enemy afterward attacked it, 3 and 4 October, they met with a severe repulse. General William S. Rosecrans was in immediate command of the National troops. On the 15th they were struck while in retreat, and badly beaten in the battle of the Hatchie. The entire National loss was 2,359. From the best attainable sources of information, the Confederates lost nearly twice that number.
After the battle of Corinth, Grant proposed to Halleck, in the latter part of October, a movement looking to the capture of Vicksburg. On 3 November he left Jackson, Tennessee, and made a movement with 30,000 men against Grand Junction, and on the 4th he had seized this place and La Grange. The force opposing him was about equal to his own. On the 13th his cavalry occupied Holly Springs; on 1 December he advanced against the enemy's works on the Tallahatchie, which were hastily evacuated, and on the 5th reached Oxford. On the 8th he ordered Sherman to move down the Mississippi from Memphis to attack Vicksburg, Grant's column to co-operate with him by land. On 20 December the enemy captured Holly Springs, which had been made a secondary base of supplies, and seized a large amount of stores. Colonel Murphy, who surrendered the post without having taken any proper measures of defence, was dismissed from the service. The difficulties of protecting the long line of communication necessary for furnishing supplies, as well as other considerations, induced Grant to abandon the land expedition, and take command in person of the movement down the Mississippi. Sherman had reached Milliken's Bend, on the west side of the river, twenty miles above Vicksburg, on the 24th, with about 32,000 men. He crossed the river, ascended the Yazoo to a point below Haines's Bluff, landed his forces, and made an assault upon the enemy's strongly fortified position at that place on the 29th, but was repelled with a loss of 175 killed, 930 wounded, and 743 missing. The enemy reported 63 killed, 134 wounded, and 10 missing. Grant's headquarters were established at Memphis on 10 January, and preparations were made for a concentrated movement against Vicksburg. On the 29th he arrived at Young's Point, opposite the mouth of the Yazoo, above Vicksburg, and took command in person of the operations against that city, his force numbering 50,000 men. Admiral Porter's co-operating fleet was composed of gun-boats of all classes, carrying 280 guns and 800 men. Three plans suggested themselves for reaching the high ground behind Vicksburg, the only position from which it could be besieged: First, to march the army down the west bank of the river, cross over below Vicksburg, and co-operate with General Banks, who was in command of an expedition ascending the river from New Orleans, with a view to capturing Port Hudson and opening up a line for supplies from below. The high water and the condition of the country made this plan impracticable at that time. Second, to construct a canal across the Peninsula opposite Vicksburg, through which the fleet of gun-boats and transports could pass, and which could be held open as a line of communication for supplies. This plan was favored at Washington, and was put into execution at once; but the high water broke the levees, drowned out the camps, and flooded the country, and after two months of laborious effort Grant reported it impracticable. Third, to turn the Mississippi from its course by opening a new channel via Lake Providence and through various bayous to Red River. A force was set to work to develop this plan; but the way was tortuous and choked with timber, and by March it was found impossible to open a practicable channel. In the meantime an expedition was sent to the east side of the river to open a route via Yazoo pass, the Tallahatchie, the Yalabusha, and the Yazoo Rivers; but insurmountable difficulties were encountered, and this attempt also had to be abandoned. Grant, having thoroughly tested all the safer plans, now determined to try a bolder and more hazardous one, which he had long had in contemplation, but which the high water had precluded. This was to run the batteries with the gun-boats and transports loaded with supplies, to march his troops down the west side of the river from Milliken's Bend to the vicinity of New Carthage, and there ferry them across to the east bank. The movement of the troops was begun on March 29. They were marched to New Carthage and Hard Times. On the night of 16 April the fleet ran the batteries under a severe fire. On April 29 the gun-boats attacked the works at Grand Gulf, but made little impression, and that night ran the batteries to a point below. On 30 April the advance of the army was ferried across to Bruinsburg, below Grand Gulf and 30 miles south of Vicksburg, and marched out in the direction of Port Gibson. Everything was made subordinate to the celerity of the movement. The men had no supplies except such as they carried on their persons. Grant himself crossed the river with no personal baggage, and without even a horse; but obtained one raggedly equipped horse on the east side. The advance encountered the enemy, under General Bowen, numbering between 7,000 and 8,000, on 1 May, near Port Gibson, routed him, and drove him in full retreat till nightfall. Grant's loss was 131 killed and 719 wounded. The Confederates reported their loss at 448 killed and wounded, and 384 missing; but it was somewhat larger, as Grant captured 650 prisoners. At Port Gibson he learned of the success of Grierson, whom he had despatched from La Grange, 17 April, and who had moved southward with 1,000 cavalry, torn up many miles of railroad, destroyed large amounts of supplies, and arrived, with but slight loss, at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 2 May. On 3 May, Grant entered Grand Gulf, which had been evacuated. He was now opposed by two armies — one commanded by General John C. Pemberton at Vicksburg, numbering about 52,000 men; the other by General Joseph E. Johnston at Jackson, 50 miles east of Vicksburg, who was being rapidly re-enforced. General Sherman had been ordered to make a demonstration against Haines's Bluff, to compel the enemy to detach troops for its defence and withhold them from Grant's front; and this feint was successfully executed, 30 April and 1 May, when Sherman received orders to retire and join the main army. Grant determined to move with celerity, place his force between the two armies of the enemy, and defeat them in detail before they could unite against him. He cut loose from his base, and ordered that the three days rations issued to the men should be made to last five days. Sherman's command reached Grand Gulf on the 6th. On the 12th Grant's advance, near Raymond, encountered the enemy approaching from Jackson, and defeated and drove him from the field with a loss of 100 killed, 305 wounded, 415 prisoners, and 2 guns. Grant's loss was 66 killed, 339 wounded, and 37 missing. He pushed on to Jackson, and captured it on the 14th, with a loss of 42 killed, and 251 wounded and missing. The enemy lost 845 in killed, wounded, and missing, and 17 guns. Grant now moved rapidly toward Vicksburg, and attacked Pemberton in a strong position at Champion Hill. After a hotly contested battle, the enemy was completely routed, with a loss of between 3,000 and 4,000 killed and wounded, 3,000 prisoners, and 30 guns; Grant's loss being 140 killed, 1,844 wounded, and 187 missing. The enemy made a stand at Big Black River bridge on the 17th, holding a strongly intrenched position; but by a vigorous assault the place was carried, and the enemy was driven across the river in great confusion, with the loss of many killed, 1,751 prisoners, and 18 guns. Grant's loss was but 39 killed, 237 wounded, and 3 missing. On the 18th the National Army closed up against the outworks of Vicksburg, driving the enemy inside his fortifications. Sherman took possession of Haines's Bluff, a base for supplies was established at Chickasaw Landing, and on the 21st the army was once more supplied with full rations. On 19 and 22 May assaults were made upon the enemy's lines, but only a few outworks were carried, and on the 23d the siege was regularly begun. By 30 June there were 220 guns in position, all light field-pieces except six 32-pounders and a battery of heavy guns supplied by the navy. Grant now had 71,000 men to conduct the siege and defend his position against Johnston's army threatening him in the rear. The operations were pressed day and night; there was mining and countermining; and the lines were pushed closer and closer, until the garrison abandoned all hope. On 3 July Pemberton asked for an armistice, and proposed the appointment of commissioners to arrange terms of capitulation. Grant replied that there could be no terms but unconditional surrender; and this was made on the 4th of July. He permitted the officers and men to be paroled, the officers to retain their private baggage and side-arms, and each mounted officer one horse. Grant showed every consideration to the vanquished, supplied them with full rations, and, when they marched out, issued an order saying, “Instruct the commands to be orderly and quiet as these prisoners pass, and to make no offensive remarks.” The surrender included 31,600 prisoners, 172 cannon, 60,000 muskets, and a large amount of ammunition. Grant's total loss in the Vicksburg Campaign was 8,873; that of the enemy nearly 60,000. Port Hudson now surrendered to Banks, and the Mississippi was opened from its source to its mouth. Grant was made a major-general in the regular army; and Congress, when it assembled, passed a resolution ordering a gold medal to be presented to him (see illustration), and returning thanks to him and his army.
He soon recommended a movement against Mobile, but it was not approved. He went to New Orleans, 30 August, to confer with Banks, and while there was severely injured by a fall from his horse, while engaged in a trial of speed with the senior editor of this work. For nearly three months he was unable to walk unaided, but on 16 September set out for Vicksburg, being carried on board the steamboat. He received orders from Washington on the 27th to send all available forces to the vicinity of Chattanooga, to co-operate with Rosecrans. While personally superintending the carrying out of this order, he received instructions, 10 October, to report at Cairo. He arrived there on the 16th, and was directed to proceed to Louisville. At Indianapolis he was met by Mr. Stanton, Secretary of War, who accompanied him to Louisville and delivered an order to him placing him in command of the military Division of the Mississippi, which was to embrace the departments and armies of the Tennessee, the Cumberland, and the Ohio. He at once went to Chattanooga, arriving on the 23d, and took command there in person. On 29 October the battle of Wauhatchie was fought, and a much-needed line of communication for supplies was opened to the troops in and around Chattanooga, besieged by Bragg's army, which held a strongly fortified position. Thomas commanded the Army of the Cumberland, which held Chattanooga; Sherman, who had succeeded Grant in command of the Army of the Tennessee, was ordered to bring all his available troops to join Thomas; and Burnside, who was in Knoxville, in command of the Army of the Ohio, besieged by Longstreet's Corps, was ordered to hold his position at all hazards till Bragg should be crushed and a force could be sent to the relief of Knoxville. Grant, having concentrated his troops near Chattanooga, made an assault upon the enemy's lines on the 23d, which resulted in carrying important positions. The attack was continued on the 24th and 25th, when the enemy's entire line was captured, and his army completely routed and driven out of Tennessee. Grant's forces consisted of 60,000 men; those of the Confederates, 45,000. The enemy's losses were reported at 361 killed and 2,180 wounded, but were undoubtedly greater. There were captured 6,442 men, 40 pieces of artillery, and 7,000 stands of small-arms. Grant's losses were 757 killed, 4,529 wounded, and 330 missing. On the 28th a force was despatched to Knoxville, the command of the expedition being given to Sherman. On the 29th Longstreet assaulted Knoxville before the arrival of the troops sent for its relief, but was repelled by Burnside, and retreated. Grant visited Knoxville the last week in December, and went from there to Nashville, where he established his headquarters, 13 January, 1864. He now ordered Sherman to march a force from Vicksburg into the interior to destroy the enemy's communications and supplies. It moved on 3 February, went as far as Meridian, reaching there 14 February, and, after destroying railroads and great quantities of supplies, returned to Vicksburg. The grade of lieutenant-general was revived by act of Congress in February, and Grant was nominated for that office on 1 March, and confirmed by the Senate on the 2d. He left Nashville on the 4th, in obedience to an order calling him to Washington, arrived there on the 8th, and received his commission from the president on the 9th. He was assigned to the command of all the armies on the 12th (Sherman being given the command of the military Division of the Mississippi on the 18th), and established his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac at Culpepper, Virginia, on the 26th.
Grant now determined to concentrate all the National forces into several distinct armies, which should move simultaneously against the opposing Confederate armies, operate vigorously and continuously, and prevent them from detaching forces to strengthen threatened points, or for the purpose of making raids. He announced that the Confederate armies would be the only objective points in the coming campaigns. Sherman was to move toward Atlanta against Johnston. Banks's army, after it could be withdrawn from the Red River Expedition, was to operate against Mobile. Sigel was to move down the valley of Virginia against Breckenridge to destroy communications and supplies, and prevent raids from that quarter. Butler was to ascend the James River and threaten Richmond. The Army of the Potomac, re-enforced by Burnside's troops and commanded by Meade, was to cover Washington, and assume the offensive against the Army of northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee. Orders were issued for a general movement of all the armies in the field on 4 May. During the night of the 4th and 5th Grant crossed the Rapidan and encountered Lee in the Wilderness, where a desperate battle was fought on the 5th, 6th, and 7th. Grant's loss was 2,261 killed, 8,785 wounded, and 2,902 missing. Lee's losses have never been reported; but, as he was generally the attacking party, he probably lost more. He fell back on the 7th, and on that day and the next took up a strong defensive position at Spottsylvania. Grant moved forward on the night of the 7th. As he rode through the troops, the men greeted him as their new commander with an extraordinary demonstration in recognition of the victory, shouting, cheering, and kindling bonfires by the road-side as he passed. The 8th and 9th were spent by both armies in skirmishing and manœuvring for position. Sheridan's cavalry was despatched on the 9th to make a raid in rear of the enemy and threaten Richmond. On the 10th there was heavy fighting, with no decisive results, and on the llth skirmishing and reconnoitering. On the morning of this day Grant sent a letter to Washington containing the famous sentence, “I propose to fight it out on this line, if it takes all summer.” On the 12th a heavy assault was made on Lee's line, near the centre, in which he lost nearly 4,000 prisoners and 30 guns. Violent storms now caused a cessation in the fighting for several days. On the 19th, Ewell's Corps, of Lee's army, moved around Grant's right flank and attacked, but was repelled after hard fighting. Grant's losses from the 8th to 21st of May, around Spottsylvania, were 2,271 killed, 9,360 wounded, and 1,970 missing. The estimate of the enemy's loss in killed and wounded was nearly as great as that of the National Army, besides about 4,000 prisoners and 30 cannon captured. In the meantime Butler had occupied Bermuda Hundred, below Richmond. Sherman had reached Dalton, Georgia, and was steadily driving Johnston's army toward Atlanta. But Sigel had been forced to retreat before Breckenridge. On the 21st, Grant moved by the left flank to North Anna River, where he again encountered Lee, and after several engagements moved again by the left from that position on the 27th toward Cold Harbor. Grant's losses between the 20th and 26th were 186 killed, 792 wounded, and 165 missing. Lee's losses during this period have never been fully ascertained. After much fighting by detached portions of the two armies, Grant made a general assault upon Lee's heavily intrenched position at Cold Harbor on 3 June, but did not succeed in carrying it, being repelled with a loss of about 7,000 in killed, wounded, and missing, while Lee's loss was probably not more than 2,500. The campaign had now lasted thirty days. Grant had received during this time about 40,000 re-enforcements, and had lost 39,259 men — 6,586 killed, 26,047 wounded, and 6,626 missing. Lee had received about 30,000 re-enforcements. There are no official figures as to his exact losses, but they have been estimated at about equal to his re-enforcements. Sherman had now reached Kenesaw, within thirty miles of Atlanta; and on the 7th news arrived that Hunter, who had succeeded Sigel, had gained a victory and had seized Staunton, on the Virginia Central Railroad. Grant made preparations for transferring the Army of the Potomac to the south side of James River, to operate against Petersburg and Richmond from a more advantageous position. The army was withdrawn from the enemy's front on the night of 12 June, and the crossing of the river began on the 13th, and occupied three days. A force had also been sent around by water, by York and James Rivers to City Point, to move against Petersburg. On the 15th the advanced troops attacked the works in front of that place; but, night coming on, the successes gained were not followed up by the commanders, and the next morning the position had been re-enforced and strengthened. An assault was made on the afternoon of the 16th, which was followed up on the 17th and 18th, and the result was the capture of important outworks, and the possession of a line closer to Petersburg. Lee's army had arrived, and again confronted the Army of the Potomac. Grant's headquarters had been established at City Point. On 22 and 23 June he made a movement from the left toward the Weldon Railroad, and heavy fighting took place, with but little result, except to render Lee's use of that line of communication more precarious. Sheridan had set out on a raid from Pamunkey River, 7 June, and, after defeating the enemy's cavalry, in the battle of Trevilian Station, destroying portions of the Virginia Railroad, and inflicting other damage, he returned to White House, on York River, on the 20th. From there he crossed the James and rejoined the Army of the Potomac. A cavalry force under General James H. Wilson had also been sent to the south and west of Petersburg, which destroyed railroad property, and for a time seriously interrupted the enemy's communications via the Danville and South-side Railroads. Hunter, in the valley of Virginia, had destroyed the stores captured at Staunton and Lexington, and moved to Lynchburg. This place was re-enforced, and, after sharp fighting, Hunter fell back, pursued by a heavy force, to Kanawha River. Early's army drove the National troops out of Martinsburg, crossed the upper Potomac, and moved upon Hagerstown and Frederick. There was great consternation in Washington, and Grant was harassed by many anxieties. On 11 July, Early advanced against the fortifications on the north side of Washington; but Grant had sent the 6th Corps there, which arrived opportunely, and the enemy did not attack. Sherman had outflanked Johnston at Kenesaw, crossed the Chattahoochee on 17 July, driven the enemy into his works around Atlanta, and destroyed a portion of the railroad in his rear. In Burnside's front, before Petersburg, a large mine had been constructed beneath the enemy's works. Many of Lee's troops had been decoyed to the north side of the James by feints made upon the lines there. The mine was fired at daylight on the morning of 30 July. A defective fuse caused a delay in the explosion, and when it occurred the assault ordered was badly executed by the officers in charge of it. Confusion arose, the place was re-enforced, and the National troops had to be withdrawn, after sustaining a heavy loss. Grant, in his anxiety to correct the errors of his subordinates, dismounted and made his way to the extreme front, giving directions in person, and exposing himself to a most destructive fire. He went to Monocacy 5 August, had Sheridan meet him there on the 6th, and placed him in command of all the forces concentrated in Maryland, with directions to operate against Early's command. On 14 August, Hancock's Corps was sent to the north side of the James, and made a demonstration against the enemy at Deep Bottom, to develop his strength and prevent him from detaching troops to send against Sheridan. This resulted in the capture of six pieces of artillery and a few prisoners. On 18 August, Warren's Corps moved out and, after heavy fighting, seized and held a position on the Weldon Railroad. Fighting continued on the 19th, with Warren's troops re-enforced by part of the 9th Corps. Lee attempted to recover the Weldon road by an assault on the 21st, but was repelled. On the 23d, Ream's Station was occupied by the National troops, and the enemy attacked them in this place in force. Two assaults were successfully met, but the place was finally captured, and the National troops were compelled to fall back. Sherman's series of brilliant battles and manœuvres around Atlanta had forced the enemy to evacuate that place, and his troops entered the city on 2 September Sheridan attacked Early's army on 19 September, and in the battle of Winchester completely routed him. He pursued the enemy to Fisher's Hill, and on the 22d gained another signal victory. Grant now made several movements against Richmond and Petersburg, intended to keep Lee from detaching troops, to extend the National lines, and to take advantage of any weak spot in the enemy's front, with a view to penetrate it. On 29 September, Butler's forces were ordered to make an advance upon the works at Deep Bottom. Fort Harrison, the strongest work north of the James, was captured, with 15 guns and several hundred prisoners. On the 30th the enemy made three attempts to retake it by assault, but was each time repelled with heavy loss. On the same day Meade moved out and carried two redoubts and a line of rifle-pits at Peebles's farm, two miles west of the Weldon Railroad. On 1 October, Meade's left was attacked; but it successfully repelled the assault, and he advanced his line on the 2d. Butler lost, in the engagements of the 29th and 30th, 394 killed, 1,554 wounded, and 324 missing. Meade lost, from 30 September to 2 October, 151 killed, 510 wounded, and 1,348 missing. On 19 October, Sheridan's army was attacked by Early at Cedar Creek. Sheridan, who was on his return from Washington, rode twenty miles from Winchester, turned a defeat into a decisive victory, captured 24 guns, 1,600 prisoners, and 300 wagons, and left the enemy a complete wreck. On 27 October, Butler was ordered to make a demonstration against the enemy's line in his front, and had some fighting. At the same time, Meade moved out to Hatcher's run; but the enemy was found strongly intrenched, the ground very difficult, and no assault was attempted. In the afternoon a heavy attack was made by the enemy, but was successfully resisted. That night the National forces were withdrawn to their former positions. Meade's loss was 143 killed, 653 wounded, and 488 missing. The enemy's casualties were greater, as he lost in prisoners alone about 1,300 men. Butler lost on this day 700 in killed and wounded, and 400 prisoners.
Sherman destroyed the railroad in his rear, cut loose from his base, and set out from Atlanta, 16 November, on his march to Savannah. General John D. Hood, who had superseded Johnston, instead of following Sherman, turned northward and moved his army against Thomas, who had been placed in command of the troops left for the defence of Tennessee. Thomas concentrated his forces in the vicinity of Nashville. Schofield was at Franklin, twenty-five miles from Nashville, with about 26,000 men. Hood attacked him on 30 November, but after a hotly contested battle was repelled with heavy loss. Thomas, with his entire army, attacked Hood, and in the battle of Nashville, 15 and 16 December, completely defeated the enemy, capturing 53 guns and 4,462 prisoners, and drove him south of Tennessee River. Sherman reached the sea-coast near Savannah on 14 December, after destroying about 200 miles of railroad and $100,000,000 worth of property. He invested Savannah, and forced the enemy to evacuate it on the night of 20 December Grant had sent Butler in charge of an expedition against Fort Fisher, at the mouth of Cape Fear River, to act in conjunction with the naval fleet under Admiral Porter. He sailed from Fort Monroe, 14 December, landed his troops 25 December, and advanced against the fort, which had been vigorously shelled by the navy; but, while the assaulting party had every prospect of entering the work, they received an order to fall back and re-embark. The expedition reached Fort Monroe, on its return, 27 December Butler was relieved, and General E. O. C. Ord was assigned to the command of the Army of the James. Grant fitted out another expedition against Fort Fisher, under General Alfred H. Terry, which sailed from Fort Monroe on 6 January, 1865. On the 13th the navy directed a heavy fire against the fort. Terry landed his troops, intrenched against a force of the enemy threatening him from the direction of Wilmington, and on the 15th made a vigorous assault, capturing the fort with its garrison and 169 heavy guns, and a large quantity of ammunition. It was at first thought best to transfer Sherman's army by sea to Virginia, but this plan was abandoned, and on 27 December he was ordered to move north by land. His army numbered 60,000 men, and was accompanied by 68 guns and 2,500 wagons. On 7 January, Schofield was directed to bring his army, then at Clifton, Tennessee, to the sea-coast. It reached Washington and Alexandria, 31 January, and on 9 February arrived at the mouth of Cape Fear River, with instructions to operate against Wilmington and penetrate the interior. He entered Wilmington on 22 February, it having been evacuated by the enemy, and took 51 heavy guns, 15 light guns, and 800 prisoners. His own loss in these operations was about 200 in killed and wounded. He moved thence to Goldsboro, where it was intended he should form a junction with Sherman. On 2 March, Lee addressed a letter to Grant, suggesting a personal meeting with a view to arranging subjects of controversy between the belligerents to a convention; but Grant replied that he had no authority to accede to the proposition; that he had a right to act only on subjects of a purely military character.
Sheridan moved down the valley of Virginia, from Winchester, 27 February, and defeated Early at Waynesboro, 2 March, capturing and scattering nearly his entire command. He then turned eastward, destroyed many miles of the James River canal, passed around the north side of Richmond, and tore up the railroads, arrived at White House on the 19th, and from there joined the Army of the Potomac. Grant had been anxious for some time lest Lee should suddenly abandon his works and fall back to unite with Johnston's forces in an attempt to crush Sherman and force Grant to pursue Lee to a point that would compel the Army of the Potomac to maintain a long line of communications with its base, as there would be nothing left in Virginia to subsist on after Lee had traversed it. Sleepless vigilance was enjoined on all commanders, with orders to report promptly any movement looking to a retreat. Sherman captured Columbia on 17 February, and destroyed large arsenals, railroad establishments, and forty-three cannon. The enemy was compelled to evacuate Charleston. On 3 March, Sherman struck Cheraw, and seized a large quantity of material of war, including 25 guns and 3,600 barrels of powder. At Fayetteville, on the 11th, he captured the finely equipped arsenal and twenty guns. On the 16th he struck the enemy at Averysboro, and after a stubborn fight drove him from his position, losing 554 men. The Confederates reported their loss at 500. On the 19th Johnston's army attacked a portion of Sherman's forces at Bentonville, and made six heavy assaults, which were all successfully met, and on the night of the 21st the enemy fell back. The National loss was 191 killed and 1,455 wounded and missing; that of the Confederates was reported at 223 killed, 1,467 wounded, 653 missing, but Sherman reports his captures of prisoners at 1,621. On the 23d Sherman reached Goldsboro, where Schofield had arrived two days before, and was again in communication with the sea-coast, and able to draw supplies. On 20 March, General George Stoneman set out to march eastward from east Tennessee, toward Lynchburg, and on the same day General E. R. S. Canby moved against Mobile. General Pope, who had succeeded Rosecrans in Missouri, was ordered to drive Price beyond Red River. Hancock had been assigned to command the middle division when Sheridan joined the Army of the Potomac, and the troops under him near Washington were held in readiness to move.
All was now in readiness for the spring campaign, which Grant intended should be the last. President Lincoln, between whom and Grant had sprung up a strong personal attachment, visited him at City Point on 22 March, and Sherman came there on the 27th. They, with Grant and Admiral Porter, held an informal conference, and on the 28th Sherman set out again to join his army. At daylight, on 25 March, Lee had made a determined assault on Grant's right, capturing Fort Steadman, breaking through the National lines, and gaining possession of several batteries. In a few hours he was driven back, and all the captured positions were regained. Lee took this step to endeavor to force the withdrawal of troops in front of his left, and enable him to leave his intrenchments and retreat toward Danville. Its failure prevented the attempt. The country roads being considered sufficiently dry, Grant had issued orders for a general advance on the 29th, and these were carried out at the appointed time. Sheridan, with his cavalry, was sent in advance to Dinwiddie Court-House. The 5th Corps had some fighting on the 29th, and in moving forward on the 31st was attacked and driven back a mile. Supported by a part of the 2d Corps, it made a counter-attack, drove the enemy back into his breastworks, and secured an advanced position. Sheridan had pushed on to Five Forks, but his command encountered a strong force of infantry and cavalry, and after heavy fighting all day he fell back to Dinwiddie Court-House, where he repelled the repeated assaults made upon him, and held the place. The 5th Corps was that night ordered to report to Sheridan. The enemy, on the morning of 1 April, fell back toward Five Forks, closely followed by the cavalry, which pressed him closely. In the afternoon he had taken up a strongly intrenched position at Five Forks, on Lee's extreme right. The 5th Corps having joined Sheridan, he made a combined attack, with infantry and cavalry, and by nightfall had gained a brilliant victory, capturing the Confederate works, 6 guns, and nearly 6,000 prisoners. His cavalry pursued the broken and flying enemy for six miles beyond the field of battle. That night, after getting the full details of Sheridan's success, Grant determined to make a vigorous assault the next day, with all his troops, upon the lines around Petersburg. It began at daylight, 2 April; the works were carried, and in a few hours Grant was closing in upon the inner defences of the city. Two of the forts, Gregg and Whitworth, were secured in the afternoon. The former was captured by assault, the latter was evacuated; 12,000 prisoners and over fifty guns were already in Grant's hands. Richmond and Petersburg were evacuated that night, and the National forces entered and took possession on the morning of the 3d. Grant, anticipating this, had begun a movement westward during the night, to head off Lee from Danville, and a vigorous pursuit by the whole army was ordered. It became evident that Lee was moving toward Amelia Court-House, and a force was urged forward to Jetersville, on the Danville Railroad, to get between him and Danville. Part of Sheridan's cavalry and the head of the 5th Corps reached there on the afternoon of the 4th and intrenched. The Army of the Potomac arrived by forced marches on the 5th, while the Army of the James, under Ord, pushed on toward Burkesville. An attack was ordered upon Lee on the morning of the 6th, but he had left Amelia Court-House during the night, and was pushing on toward Farmville by the Deatonsville Road. He was closely pursued, and on the afternoon of the 6th, Sheridan, with his cavalry and the 6th Corps, attacked him at Sailor's Creek, capturing 7 general officers, about 7,000 men, and 14 guns. The 2d Corps had kept up a running fight with the enemy all day, and had captured 4 guns, 17,000 prisoners, 13 flags, and 300 wagons. Lee was continuing his retreat through Farmville, and Grant urged troops to that place by forced marches on the 7th. The 2d Corps and a portion of the cavalry had been repelled in their attacks on Lee, north of the Appomattox, and the 6th Corps crossed from Farmville on the evening of the 7th to re-enforce them. That night Grant sent a note from Farmville to Lee, calling his attention to the hopelessness of further resistance, and asking the surrender of his army. He received a reply from Lee on the morning of the 8th, saying he was not entirely of Grant's opinion as to the hopelessness of further resistance, but asking what terms would be offered. Grant, who was still at Farmville, immediately replied, saying that, as peace was his great desire, he would insist on but one condition — that the men and officers surrendered should be disqualified from taking up arms again until properly exchanged. On the 8th Lee's troops were in full retreat on the north side of the Appomattox. The 2d and 6th Corps followed in hot pursuit on that side, while Sheridan, Ord, and the 5th Corps were pushed forward with all speed on the south side to head off Lee from Lynchburg. Near midnight on the night of the 8th Grant received another note from Lee, saying he had not intended to propose the surrender of his army, but desired to know whether Grant's proposals would lead to peace, and suggested a meeting at 10 A. M. the next morning. Grant replied that such a meeting could lead to no good, as he had no authority to treat on the subject of peace, but suggested that the south's laying down their arms would hasten the event and save thousands of lives and hundreds of millions of property. Early on the morning of 9 April, Lee's advance arrived at Appomattox Court-House; but, by extraordinary forced marches, Sheridan, Ord, and Griffin reached that place at the same time. Lee attacked the cavalry; but, when he found infantry in his front, he sent in a flag of truce, and forwarded a note to Grant, asking an interview in accordance with the offer contained in Grant's letter of the day before. Grant received it on the road while riding toward Appomattox Court-House, and sent a reply saying he would move forward and meet Lee at any place he might select. They met in the McLean house, in Appomattox (see accompanying illustration), on the afternoon of the 9th, and the terms of surrender were drawn up by Grant and accepted by Lee. The conference lasted about three hours. The men and officers were paroled and allowed to return to their homes; all public property was to be turned over, but the officers were allowed to keep their side-arms, and both officers and men to retain their private horses and baggage. These terms were so magnanimous, and the treatment of Lee and his officers so considerate, that the effect was to induce other Confederates to seek the same terms and bring the rebellion to a speedy close. In riding to his camp after the surrender, Grant heard the firing of salutes. He sent at once to suppress them, and said: “The war is over; the rebels are again our countrymen, and the best sign of rejoicing after the victory will be to abstain from all demonstrations in the field.” The number paroled was 28,356. In addition to these, 19,132 had been captured during the campaign since March 29. The killed were estimated at 5,000. After 9 April, over 20,000 stragglers and deserters besides came in and surrendered. The National losses during this period were 2,000 killed, 6,500 wounded, and 2,500 missing. Grant's losses, including those of Butler's army, during the year beginning with the battle of the Wilderness, were 12,663 killed, 49,559 wounded, and 20,498 missing; total, 82,700. No accurate reports of the Confederate losses can be obtained; but Grant's captures in battle during this year were 66,512.
On 10 April, Grant went to Washington to hasten the disbanding of the armies, stop purchases of supplies, and save expense to the government. He did not stop to visit Richmond. President Lincoln was assassinated on the 14th, and Grant would probably have shared the same fate but for his having left Washington that day. On 18 April, Sherman received the surrender of Johnston's army, but on terms that the government did not approve, and Grant was sent to North Carolina to conduct further negotiations. On the 26th Johnston surrendered to Sherman on terms similar to those given to Lee, and 31,243 men were paroled. Grant remained at Raleigh and avoided being present at the interview, leaving to Sherman the full credit of the capture. Canby's force appeared before Mobile on 27 March, the principal defensive works were captured on 9 April, and Mobile was evacuated on the llth, when 200 guns and 4,000 prisoners were captured, but about 9,000 of the garrison escaped. Wilson's cavalry command captured Selma, Alabama, on 2 April, and Tuscaloosa on the 4th, occupied Montgomery on the 14th, and took West Point and Columbus, Georgia, on the 16th. Macon surrendered on the 21st. Kirby Smith surrendered his command, west of the Mississippi, on the 26th. There was then not an armed enemy left in the country, and the rebellion was ended. Grant established his headquarters in Washington. He was greeted with ovations wherever he went, honors were heaped upon him in every part of the land, and he was universally hailed as the country's deliverer. In June, July, and August, 1865, he made a tour through the northern States and Canada. In November he was welcomed in New York by a demonstration that exceeded all previous efforts. It consisted of a banquet and reception, and the manifestations of the people in their greetings knew no bounds. Immediately after the war, Grant sent General Sheridan with an army corps to the Rio Grande River to observe the movements of the French, who were then in Mexico supporting the Imperial government there in violation of the Monroe doctrine. This demonstration was the chief cause of the withdrawal of the French. Maximilian, being left without assistance from a European power, was soon driven from his throne, and the republic of Mexico was re-established.
The U. S. court in Virginia had found indictments against General Lee and other officers prominent in the rebellion, and much anxiety was manifested by them on this account. Two months after the war, Lee applied by letter to be permitted to enjoy privileges extended to those included in a proclamation of amnesty, which had been issued by the president. Grant put an indorsement on the letter, which began as follows: “Respectfully forwarded through the Secretary of War to the president, with the earnest recommendation that the application of General Robert E. Lee for amnesty and pardon be granted him.” But President Johnson was at that time embittered against all participants in the rebellion, and seemed determined to have Lee and others punished for the crime of treason. Lee afterward made a strong plea by letter to Grant for protection. Grant put a long and emphatic endorsement upon this letter, in which he used the following language: “In my opinion, the officers and men paroled at Appomattox Court-House and since, upon the same terms given to Lee, cannot be tried for treason so long as they preserve the terms of their parole. . . . The action of Judge Underwood in Norfolk has already had an injurious effect, and I would ask that he be ordered to quash all indictments found against paroled prisoners of war, and to desist from further prosecution of them.” Grant insisted that he had the power to accord the terms he granted at Appomattox, and that the president was bound to respect the agreements there entered into unless they should be abrogated by the prisoners violating their paroles. He went so far as to declare that he would resign his commission if so gross a breach of good faith should be perpetrated by the executive. The result was the abandonment of the prosecutions. This was the first of a series of contests between Grant and President Johnson, which finally resulted in their entire estrangement. In December, Grant made a tour of inspection through the south. His report upon affairs in that section of the country was submitted to Congress by the president, and became the basis of important reconstruction laws. In May, 1866, he wrote a letter to the Secretary of War, which was submitted to Congress, and became the basis for the reorganization of the army, and also for the distribution of troops through the south during the process of reconstruction. The Fenians were now giving the government much trouble, and in consequence of their acts the relations between the United States and Great Britain were becoming strained. They had organized a raid into Canada to take place during the summer; but Grant visited Buffalo in June, took effective measures to stop them, and prevented all further unlawful acts on their part. Congress had passed an act creating the grade of general, a higher rank than had before existed in the army, to be conferred on Grant as a reward for his illustrious services in the field, and on 25 July, 1866, he received his commission.
In the autumn of 1866, President Johnson having changed his policy toward the south, finding that Grant refused to support him in his intentions to assume powers that Grant believed were vested only in Congress, ordered him out of the country, with directions to proceed on a special mission to Mexico. Grant refused, saying that this was not a military service but a diplomatic mission, and that he claimed the right possessed by every citizen to decline a civil appointment. An effort was afterward made to send him west, to prevent his presence in Washington, but it was soon abandoned. The 39th Congress, fearing the result of this action on the part of the president, attached a clause to the army appropriation bill, passed on 4 March, 1867, providing that “all orders and instructions relating to military operations shall be issued through the general of the army,” and added that he should “not be removed, suspended, or relieved from command, or assigned to duty elsewhere than at the headquarters in Washington, except at his own request, without the previous approval of the Senate.” The president signed the bill, with a protest against this clause, and soon obtained an opinion from his attorney-general that it was unconstitutional. The president then undertook to send this opinion to the district commanders, but, finding the Secretary of War in opposition, he issued it through the adjutant-general's office. General Sheridan, then at New Orleans, in command of the fifth military District, inquired what to do, and Grant replied that a “legal opinion was not entitled to the force of an order,” and “to enforce his own construction of the law until otherwise ordered.” This brought on a crisis. The president claimed that under the constitution he could direct the district commanders to issue such orders as he dictated, and was met by an act of Congress, passed in July, making the orders of the district commanders “subject to the disapproval of the general of the army.” Thus Grant was given chief control of affairs relating to the reconstruction of the southern states. The president still retained the power of removal, and on the adjournment of Congress he removed Sheridan and placed General Hancock in command of the fifth military District. Some of Hancock's orders were revoked by Grant, which caused not a little bitterness of feeling between these officers, and provoked opposition from the Democratic Party. Subsequently, when a bill was before Congress to muster General Hancock out of the service for his acts in Louisiana, Grant opposed it, and it was defeated. Soon afterward he recommended Hancock for a major-generalship in the regular army, to which he was appointed.
The “tenure-of-office” act forbade the president from removing a cabinet officer without the consent of the Senate; but President Johnson suspended Sec. Stanton, and appointed Grant Secretary of War ad interim on 12 August, 1867. Grant protested against this action, but retained the office until 14 January, 1868, when the Senate refused to confirm the suspension of Stanton. Grant immediately notified the president, who, finding that the general of the army would not retain the place in opposition to the will of Congress, and that Sec. Stanton had re-entered upon his office, ordered Grant verbally to disregard Stanton's orders. Grant declined to do so unless he received instructions in writing. This led to an acrimonious correspondence. The president claimed that Grant had promised to sustain him. This Grant emphatically denied, and in a long letter reviewing his action said: “The course you would have it understood I agreed to pursue was in violation of law, and was without orders from you, while the course I did pursue, and which I never doubted you understood, was in accordance with law. . . . And now, Mr. President, when my honor as a soldier and integrity as a man have been so violently assailed, pardon me for saying that I regard this whole matter, from the beginning to the end, as an attempt to involve me in the resistance of law for which you hesitate to assume the responsibility in orders.” On 21 February the president appointed Lorenzo Thomas adjutant-general of the army, Secretary of War, and ordered him to take possession of the office. On 24 February articles of impeachment were passed by the House of Representatives. Throughout these years of contest between the executive and Congress, Grant's position became very delicate and embarrassing. He was compelled to execute the laws of Congress at the risk of appearing insubordinate to his official chief, but his course was commended by the people, his popularity increased, and when the Republican Convention met in Chicago, 20 May, 1868, he was unanimously nominated for the presidency on the first ballot. In his letter of acceptance, dated nine days after, he made use of the famous phrase, “Let us have peace.” The Democratic Party nominated Horatio Seymour, of New York. When the election occurred, Grant carried twenty-six states with a popular vote of 3,015,071, while Seymour carried eight states with a popular vote of 2,709,613. It was claimed that the state of New York was really carried by Grant, but fraudulently counted for Seymour. Out of the 294 electoral votes cast for president, Grant received 214 and Seymour 80 — Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia not voting.
Grant possessed in a striking degree the essential characteristics of a successful soldier. His self-reliance was one of his most pronounced traits, and enabled him at critical moments to decide promptly the most important questions without useless delay in seeking advice from others, and to assume the gravest responsibilities without asking anyone to share them. He had a fertility of resource and a faculty of adapting the means at hand to the accomplishment of his purposes, which contributed no small share to his success. His moral and physical courage were equal to every emergency in which he was placed. His unassuming manner, purity of character, and absolute loyalty to his superiors and to the work in which he was engaged, inspired loyalty in others and gained him the devotion of the humblest of his subordinates. He was singularly calm and patient under all circumstances, was never unduly elated by victory or depressed by defeat, never became excited, and never uttered an oath or imprecation. His habits of life were simple, and he was possessed of a physical constitution that enabled him to endure every form of fatigue and privation incident to military service in the field. He had an intuitive knowledge of topography, and never became confused as to locality in directing the movements of large bodies of men. He exhibited a rapidity of thought and action on the field that enabled him to move troops in the presence of an enemy with a promptness that has rarely been equalled. He had no hobby as to the use of any particular arm of the service. He naturally placed his main reliance on his infantry, but made a more vigorous use of cavalry than any of the generals of his day, and was judicious in apportioning the amount of his artillery to the character of the country in which he was operating. While his achievements in actual battle eclipse by their brilliance the strategy and grand tactics employed in his campaigns, yet the extraordinary combinations effected and the skill and boldness exhibited in moving large armies into position entitle him, perhaps, to as much credit as the qualities he displayed in the face of the enemy. On 4 March, 1869, Grant was inaugurated the eighteenth president of the United States.
General Grant had never taken an active part in politics, and had voted for a presidential candidate but once. In 1856, although his early associations had been with the Whigs, he cast his vote for James Buchanan, the Democratic candidate; but this was on personal rather than political grounds, as he believed that the Republican candidate did not possess the requisite qualifications for the office. So much doubt existed as to his political proclivities that prominent Democrats had made overtures to him to accept a nomination from their party only a few months before the nominating conventions were held. But he was at heart in thorough accord with the principles of the Republican Party. He believed in a national banking system, a tariff that would fairly protect American industries, in the fostering of such internal improvements as would unite our two seaboards and give the eastern and western sections of the country mutual support and protection, in the dignifying of labor, and in laws that would secure equal justice to all citizens of the republic, regardless of race, color, or previous condition.
As early as August, 1863, he had written a letter to Elihu B. Washburne, member of Congress, in which he said: “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 established, I would not, therefore, be willing to see any settlement until this question is forever settled.” In his inaugural address he declared that the government bonds should be paid in gold, advocated a speedy return to specie payments, and made many important recommendations in reference to public affairs. Regarding the good faith of the nation he said: “To protect the national honor, every dollar of government indebtedness should be paid in gold, unless otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract. . . . Let it be understood that no repudiator of one farthing of our public debt will be trusted in public place, and it will go far toward strengthening a credit which ought to be the best in the world, and will ultimately enable us to replace the debt with bonds bearing less interest than we now pay.” Congress acted promptly upon his recommendation, and on 18 March, 1869, an act was passed entitled “An act to strengthen the public credit.” Its language gave a pledge to the world that the debts of the country would be paid in coin unless there were in the obligations express stipulations to the contrary. Both in his inaugural address and in his first annual message to Congress he took strong ground in favor of an effort to “civilize and Christianize” the Indians, and fit them ultimately for citizenship. His early experience among these people, while serving on the frontier, had eminently fitted him for inaugurating practical methods for improving their condition. He appointed as commissioner of Indian affairs the chief of the Six Nations, General Ely S. Parker, a highly educated Indian, who had served on his staff, and selected as members of the board of Indian commissioners gentlemen named by the various religious denominations throughout the country. Although such men were not always practical in their views, and many obstacles had to be overcome in working out this difficult problem, great good resulted in the end; public attention was attracted to the amelioration of the condition of our savage tribes; they came to be treated more like wards of the nation, were gathered upon government reservations, where they could be more economically provided for, the number of Indian wars was reduced, and large amounts were saved to the government.
The 15th Amendment to the Constitution, adopted 26 February, 1869, guaranteed the right of suffrage without regard to race, color, or previous condition of servitude. It was ratified by the requisite three fourths of the states, and declared in force, 30 March, 1870. The adoption of this amendment had been recommended by President Grant, and had had his active support throughout, and it is largely due to his efforts that it is now a part of the constitution. He proclaimed its adoption by the somewhat unusual course of sending a special message to Congress, in which he said: “I regard it as a measure of grander importance than any other one act of the kind from the foundation of the government to the present day.” He also urged in this message that Congress should encourage popular education, in order that the Negro might become better fitted for the exercise of the privileges conferred upon him by this amendment.
In the summer of 1869 a representative from Santo Domingo informed the president that the government and people of that republic favored annexation to the United States. The president sent several officers of the government to investigate the condition of affairs there, and became so clearly impressed with the advantages that would result from the acquisition of that country that he negotiated a treaty of annexation, and submitted it to the Senate at the next meeting of Congress. In May, 1870, he urged favorable action on the part of that body in a message in which he set forth the reasons that had governed him, and again called attention to it in his second annual message. He claimed, among other things, that its admission into the Union as a territory would open up a large trade between the two lands, furnish desirable harbors for naval stations, and a place of refuge for Negroes in the south who found themselves persecuted in their old homes; would favor the abolition of slavery in the West Indies, would be in harmony with the Monroe doctrine, and would redound to the great benefit of both countries and to civilization, and that there was danger, if we failed to receive it, that it would be taken by some European power, and add another to the list of islands off our coast controlled by European powers, and likely to give us trouble in case we became engaged in war. The measure was debated for a long time, but the Senate did not act favorably upon it. In 1871 a commission of distinguished citizens was sent to investigate and report upon all matters relating to Santo Domingo and the proposed treaty. They visited that country, and made an exhaustive report, which was highly favorable to the plan of annexation; but the treaty was constitutionally rejected, having failed to receive the necessary two-third vote, and was never brought up again. The president declared that he had no policy to enforce against the will of the people. He referred to the subject in his last annual message to Congress, and reviewed the grounds of his action, not in order to renew the project, but, as he expressed it, “to vindicate my previous action in regard to it.” Many outrages had been committed in the south against the freedmen, and Congress spent much time in considering measures for the suppression of these crimes. On 31 May, 1870, a bill was passed, called the Enforcement act, which empowered the president to protect the freedmen in their newly acquired rights, and punish the perpetrators of the outrages. Several supplements to this were subsequently enacted, and a most onerous and exacting duty was imposed upon the executive in enforcing their provisions.
The reconstruction of the states recently in rebellion now progressed rapidly under the 14th amendment, which guaranteed equal civil rights to all citizens, and in July, 1870, all the states had ratified this amendment and been readmitted to the Union. The votes of Arkansas and Louisiana were not received by Congress in the presidential election of 1872; but this was on account of fraud and illegal practices at the polls. In the president's annual message to Congress, December, 1869, he recommended the passage of an act authorizing the funding of the public debt at a lower rate of interest. This was followed by the passing of an act, approved 14 July, 1870, which authorized the secretary of the treasury to issue bonds to the amount of $200,000,000, bearing interest at the rate of 5 per cent., $300,000,000 at the rate of 4½ per cent., and $1,000,000,000 at the rate of 4 per cent. Under this act, and subsequent amendments thereto, the national debt has been refunded from time to time, until the average rate of actual interest does not exceed 3½ per cent.
In 1870 President Grant sent special messages to Congress urging upon that body the necessity of building up our merchant marine, and the adopting of methods for increasing our foreign commerce, and regarding our relations with Spain, which had become strained in consequence of the action of Spanish officials in Cuba. In August of this year, soon after the beginning of the war between France and Germany, he issued a proclamation of neutrality as to both of those nations, and defined the duties of Americans toward the belligerents. He directed the U. S. minister to France, Elihu B. Washburne, to remain at his post in Paris, and extend the protection of the American flag to peoples of all nationalities who were without the protection of their own flag — an act that saved much suffering and loss to individuals.
In his annual message in 1870, the president took strong ground in favor of civil service reform, saying: “I would have it govern, not the tenure, but the manner of making all appointments,” and “The present system does not secure the best men, and not even fit men, for public place.” This subject gave rise to a spirited controversy in Congress, many declaring the principle to be wholly un-American, and calculated to build up a favored class, who would be in great measure independent of their executive chiefs, etc. But on 3 March, 1871, an act was passed authorizing the president to appoint a civil service commission, and to prescribe rules and regulations governing the appointments of civil officers. He appointed seven gentlemen on this commission, selecting those who had been most prominent in advocating the measure, and transmitted their report to Congress, with a special message urging favorable action. The plan recommended, which provided for competitive examinations, was approved, and was put into operation 1 January, 1872. An appropriation was procured for the expenses of the commission and the carrying out of the plan, but Congress gave little countenance to the measure. Up to 1874 the president continued to urge that body to give legislative sanction to the rules and methods proposed, and declared that it was impossible to maintain the system without the “positive support of Congress.” He finally notified Congress that if it adjourned without action he would regard it as a disapproval of the system, and would abandon it; but he continued it until its expenses were no longer provided for. The agitation of the question had been productive of much good. The seeds thus sown had taken deep root in the minds of the people, and bore good fruit in after years. In March, 1871, the disorders in the southern states, growing out of conflicts between the whites and the blacks, had assumed such proportions that the president sent a special message to Congress requesting “such legislation as shall effectually secure life, liberty, and property, and the enforcement of law in all parts of the United States.” On 20 April Congress passed an act that authorized the president to suspend, under certain defined circumstances, the writ of habeas corpus in any district, and to use the army and navy in suppressing insurrections. He issued a proclamation, 4 May, ordering all unlawful armed bands to disperse, and, after expressing his reluctance to use the extraordinary power conferred upon him, said he would “not hesitate to exhaust the power thus vested in the executive, whenever and wherever it shall become necessary to do so for the purpose of securing to all citizens of the United States the peaceful enjoyment of the rights guaranteed to them by the constitution and the laws.” As this did not produce the desired effect, he issued a proclamation of warning, 12 October, and on the 17th suspended the writ of habeas corpus in parts of North and South Carolina. He followed this by vigorous prosecutions, which resulted in sending a number of prominent offenders to prison, and the outrages soon ceased. The most important measure of foreign policy during President Grant's administration was the treaty with Great Britain of 8 May, 1871, known as the treaty of Washington. Early in his administration the president had begun negotiations looking to the settlement of the claims made by the United States against Great Britain, arising from the depredations upon American vessels and commerce by Confederate cruisers that had been fitted out or obtained supplies in British ports, and the questions growing out of the Canadian fishery disputes and the location of our northern boundary-line at its junction with the Pacific ocean, which left the jurisdiction of the Island of San Juan in controversy. Neither of the two last-mentioned questions had been settled by the treaty of peace of 1783, or any subsequent treaties. The fishery question was referred to arbitration by three commissioners, one to be chosen by the United States, one by Great Britain, and the third by the other two, provided they should make a choice within a stated time, otherwise the selection to be made by the Emperor of Austria. The two commissioners having failed to agree, the third was named by the Austrian emperor. The award was unsatisfactory to the United States, the decision of the commission was severely criticised, and the dispute has from time to time been reopened to the detriment of both countries. The San Juan question was referred to the emperor of Germany as arbitrator, with sole power. His award fully sustained the claim of the United States. A high joint commission had assembled at Washington, composed of American and English statesmen, which formulated the treaty of Washington, and by its terms the claims against Great Britain growing out of the operations of the Confederate cruisers, commonly known as the “Alabama claims,” were referred to a court of arbitration, which held its session at Geneva, Switzerland. In September, 1872, it awarded the United States the sum of $15,500,000, which was subsequently paid by the British government. War had at one time seemed imminent, on account of the bitterness felt against Great Britain in consequence of her unfriendly acts during our Civil War; but the president was a man who had seen so much of the evils of war that he became a confirmed believer in pacific measures as long as there was hope through such means. In his inaugural address he said: “In regard to foreign policy, I would deal with nations as equitable law requires individuals to deal with each other. . . . I would respect the rights of all nations, demanding equal respect for our own. If others depart from this rule in their dealings with us, we may be compelled to follow their precedent.” The adoption of the treaty was a signal triumph for those who advocated the settlement of international disputes by peaceful methods. The adoption of the rules contained in the treaty for the government of neutral nations was of far more importance than the money award. These rules were to govern the action of the two contracting parties, and they agreed to bring them to the notice of other nations, and invite them to follow the precedent thus established. The rules stipulated that a neutral shall not permit a belligerent to fit out, arm, or equip in its ports any vessel that it has reasonable ground to believe is intended to cruise or carry on war against a nation with which it is at peace, and that neither of the contracting parties shall permit a belligerent to make use of its ports or waters as a base of operations against the other. The two nations also agreed to use due diligence to prevent any infraction of these rules.
On 22 May, 1872, the amnesty bill was passed by Congress, restoring their civil rights to all but about 350 persons in the south who had held conspicuous positions under the Confederate government. President Grant's first administration had been vigorous and progressive. Important reforms had been inaugurated, and measures of vital moment to the nation, both at home and abroad, had been carried to a successful conclusion in the face of opposition from some of the most prominent men of his own political party. Not a few Republicans became estranged, feeling that they were being ignored by the executive, and formed themselves into an organization under the name of “Liberal Republicans.” This opposition resulted in the holding of a convention in Cincinnati, and the nomination of Horace Greeley as its candidate for the presidency, which nomination was afterward adopted by the Democratic Party. The Republican Convention met in Philadelphia, 5 June, 1872, renominated President Grant, and adopted a platform approving the principles advocated by him in his previous administration. When the election took place, he carried 31 states, with a popular vote of 3,597,070, the largest that had ever been given for any president, while Greeley carried 6 states with a popular vote of 2,834,079. Grant received 286 electoral votes against 66 that would have been cast for Mr. Greeley if he had lived. The 14 votes of Arkansas and Louisiana were not counted, because of fraud and illegality in the election. The canvass had been one of the most aggressive and exciting in the history of the country, and abounded in personal attacks upon the candidates. General Grant, in his inaugural address on 4 March, 1873, said, in alluding to the personal abuse that had been aimed at him: “To-day I feel that I can disregard it, in view of your verdict, which I gratefully accept as my vindication.” His second term was a continuation of the policy that had characterized the first. His foreign policy was steadfast, dignified, and just, always exhibiting a conscientious regard for the rights of foreign nations, and at the same time maintaining the rights of our own. He instructed the ministers to China and Japan to deal with those powers as “we would wish a strong nation to deal with us if we were weak.” During the insurrection in the Island of Cuba, which had lasted for several years, a number of American citizens had been arrested by the Spanish authorities, under the pretence that they had been furnishing aid to the insurgents, and American vessels plying in Cuban waters had at times been subjected to much inconvenience. Then matters culminated in the seizure by Spain, without justification, of an American vessel named the “Virginius.” The excitement created in the United States by this outrage was intense, and many statesmen were clamorous for war. But the president believed that pacific measures would accomplish a better result, and, by acting with promptness and firmness, he soon wrung from Spain ample apology and full reparation.
Political troubles were still rife in certain states of the south. The result of the election in Louisiana in 1872 was in dispute, and armed violence was threatened in that state. Early in 1873 the president called the attention of Congress to the inadequacy of the laws applying to such cases, saying that he had recognized the officers installed by the decision of the returning-board as representing the de facto government, and added: “I am extremely anxious to avoid any appearance of undue interference in state affairs, and if Congress differs from me as to what ought to be done, I respectfully urge its immediate decision to that effect.” Congress, however, took no action, and left with the executive the sole responsibility of dealing with this delicate question. The next year the trouble was renewed, and the fierce contest that was waged between the Republicans under Kellogg and the Democrats under McEnery, their respective candidates for the governorship, resulted in armed hostilities. Kellogg, the de facto governor, called upon the Federal authority for protection, and General Emory was sent to New Orleans with U. S. troops, and the outbreak was for a time suppressed. But difficulties arose again, and the president sent General Sheridan to Louisiana to report upon the situation of affairs, and, if necessary, to take command of the troops and adopt vigorous measures to preserve the peace. General Sheridan became convinced that his duty was to sustain the government organized by Kellogg, and, on the demand of the governor, he ejected some of McEnery's adherents from the state capitol. The president submitted the whole history of the case to Congress, asking for legislation defining his duties in the emergency. Getting no legislation on the subject, he continued his recognition of the government of which Kellogg was the head, until the election of a new governor; but there was afterward no serious trouble in Louisiana. Difficulties of the same nature arose in Arkansas and Texas, which were almost as perplexing to the executive; but these attracted less attention before the public. Difficulties of a somewhat similar kind were encountered also in Mississippi, but the president in this case avoided interference on the part of the general government.
In April, 1874, Congress passed what was known as the “Inflation bill,” which increased the paper currency of the country, and was contrary to the financial principles that the president had always entertained and advocated in his state papers. Many of his warmest political supporters had approved the measure, and unusual efforts were made to convince him that it was wise financially and expedient politically. The president gave much thought and study to the question, and at one time wrote out the draft of a message in which he set forth all the arguments that could be made in its favor, in order that he might fully weigh them; but, on reading it over, he became convinced that the reasons advanced were not satisfactory, and that the measure would in the end be injurious to the true business interests of the country, and delay the resumption of specie payment. He therefore returned the bill to Congress, with his veto, 22 April. The arguments contained in his message were unanswerable, the bill was not passed over his veto, and his course was sustained by the whole country. Perhaps no act of his administration was more highly approved by the people at large, and the result amply proved the wisdom of the firmness he exhibited at this crisis. About two months after this, in a conversation at the executive mansion with Senator Roscoe Conkling, of New York, and Senator John P. Jones, of Nevada, the president entered at length upon his views concerning the duty of the government to take steps looking to the return to specie payment. His earnestness on this subject, and the advantages of the methods proposed, so impressed the senators that they asked him to commit his views to writing. He complied with this request by writing a letter addressed to Senator Jones, dated 4 June, 1874, in which he began by saying: “I believe it a high and plain duty to return to a specie basis at the earliest practical day, not only in compliance with legislative and party pledges, but as a step indispensable to national lasting prosperity.” Then followed his views at length. This letter was made public, and attracted much attention, and in January, 1875, the “Resumption act” was passed, which, to a large extent, embodied the views that had been suggested by the president. There were doubts in the minds of many as to the ability of the government to carry it into effect; but it proved entirely successful, and the country was finally relieved from the stigma of circulating an irredeemable paper currency.
During 1875 the president had reason to suspect that frauds were being practised by government officials in certain states in collecting the revenue derived from the manufacture of whiskey. He at once took active measures for their detection, and the vigorous pursuit and punishment of the offenders. He issued a stringent order for their prosecution, closing with the famous words, “Let no guilty man escape.” Many indictments soon followed, the ringleaders were sent to the penitentiary, and an honest collection of the revenue was secured. Some of the revenue officials were men of much political influence, and had powerful friends. The year for nominating a president was at hand, and the excitement ran high. Friends of the convicted, political enemies and rivals for the succession in his own party, resorted to the most desperate means to break the president's power and diminish his popularity. The grossest misrepresentations were practised, first in trying to bring into question the honesty of his purpose in the prosecution of offenders, and afterward in endeavoring to rob him of the credit of his labors after they had purified the revenue-service. But these efforts signally failed.
In September, 1875, Gen Grant, while attending an army reunion in Iowa, offered three resolutions on the subject of education, and made a speech in which he used this language: “Let us labor for the security of free thought, free speech, free press, pure morals, unfettered religious sentiments, and equal rights and privileges for all men, irrespective of nationality, color, or religion; encourage free schools; resolve that not one dollar appropriated to them shall go to the support of any sectarian school; resolve that neither state nor nation shall support any institution save those where every child may get a common-school education, unmixed with any atheistic, pagan, or sectarian teaching; leave the matter of religious teaching to the family altar, and keep church and state forever separate.” This was published broadcast, and was received with marked favor by the press and people.
In 1876 Samuel J. Tilden, of New York, was nominated for the presidency by the Democrats, and General Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, by the Republicans. When the election was held in November, the result was in dispute, and a bitter contest was likely to follow in determining which was the legally elected candidate. After an exciting debate in Congress, a bill was passed providing for an electoral commission, to whose decision the question was to be referred. It decided in favor of General Hayes, and he was inaugurated on 4 March, 1877. During all this time the political passions of the people were raised to fever-heat, serious threats of violence were made, and the business interests of the country were greatly disturbed. President Grant took no active part in the determination of the question, but devoted himself to measures to preserve the peace. There were many changes in the cabinet during Grant's two administrations. The following is a list of its members, giving the order in which they served: Secretaries of state, Elihu B. Washburne, of Illinois; Hamilton Fish, of New York. Secretaries of the treasury, Alexander T. Stewart, of New York (appointed, but not confirmed, on account of the discovery of an old law rendering him ineligible because of his being engaged in the business of an importing merchant); George S. Boutwell, of Massachusetts; William M. Richardson, of Massachusetts; Benjamin H. Bristow, of Kentucky; Lot M. Morrill, of Maine. Secretaries of war, General John M. Schofield, U. S. Army; John A. Rawlins, of Illinois; William W. Belknap, of Iowa; Alonzo Taft, of Ohio; J. Donald Cameron, of Pennsylvania. Secretaries of the navy, Adolph E. Borie, of Pennsylvania; George M. Robeson, of New Jersey. Postmasters-General, John A. J. Creswell, of Maryland; Marshall Jewell, of Connecticut; James A. Tyner, of Indiana. Attorneys-General, Ebenezer R. Hoar, of Massachusetts; Amos T. Akerman, of Georgia; George H. Williams, of Oregon; Edwards Pierrepont, of New York; Alonzo Taft, of Ohio. Secretaries of the interior, General Jacob D. Cox, of Ohio; Columbus Delano, of Ohio; Zachariah Chandler, of Michigan. (See articles on each of these cabinet officers) During President Grant's administrations the taxes had been reduced over $300,000,000, the national debt over $450,000,000, the interest on the debt from $160,000,000 to $100,000,000; the balance of trade had changed from $130,000,000 against this country to $130,000,000 in its favor; the reconstruction of the southern states had been completed; the first trans-continental railroad had been finished; all threatening foreign complications had been satisfactorily settled; and all exciting national questions seemed to have been determined and removed from the arena of political contests. General Grant, while president, exhibited the same executive ability as in the army, insisting upon a proper division of labor among the different branches of the government, leaving the head of each department great freedom of action, and holding him to a strict accountability for the conduct of the affairs of his office. He decided with great promptness all questions referred to him, and suggested many measures for improving the government service, but left the carrying out of details to the proper chiefs. While positive in his views, and tenacious of his opinions when they had been formed after due reflection, he listened patiently to suggestions and arguments, and had no pride of opinion as to changing his mind, if convincing reasons were presented to him. He was generally a patient listener while others presented their views, and seldom gave his opinions until they were thoroughly matured; then he talked freely and with great force and effect. He was one of the most accessible of all the presidents. He reserved no hours that he could call his own, but was ready to see all classes of people at all times, whether they were high in position or from the ranks of the plain people. His patience was one of the most characteristic traits of his character, and his treatment of those who came in contact with him was frank and cordial to the highest degree. His devotion to his friends was proverbial, and his loyalty to others commanded loyalty from them, and accounted, in great measure, for the warmth and devotion of his followers. Wherever he placed trust he reposed rare confidence, until it was shaken by actual proofs of betrayal. This characteristic of his nature led him at times to be imposed upon by those who were not worthy of the faith he placed in them; but persons that once lost his confidence never regained it.
After retiring from the presidency, 4 March, 1877, General Grant decided to visit the countries of the Old World, and on May 17 he sailed from Philadelphia for Liverpool on the steamer “Indiana,” accompanied by his wife and one son. His departure was the occasion for a memorable demonstration on the Delaware. Distinguished men from all parts of the country had assembled to bid him good-by, and accompanied him down the river. A fleet of naval and commercial vessels and river boats, decorated with brilliant banners, convoyed his steamer, crowds lined the shores, greeting him with cheers, bells rang, whistles sounded from mills and factories, and innumerable flags saluted as he passed. On his arrival in Liverpool, 28 May, he received the first of a series of ovations in foreign lands scarcely less cordial and demonstrative than those which had been accorded him in his own country. The river Mersey was covered with vessels displaying the flags of all nations, and all vied with each other in their demonstrations of welcome. He visited the places of greatest interest in Great Britain, and was accorded the freedom of her chief cities, which means the granting of citizenship. He received a greater number of such honors than had ever been bestowed even upon the most illustrious Englishman. In London he was received by the queen and the Prince of Wales, and afterward visited her majesty at Windsor Castle. While he was entertained in a princely manner by royalty, the most enthusiastic greetings came from the masses of the people, who everywhere turned out to welcome him. His replies to the numerous addresses of welcome were marked by exceeding good taste and were read with much favor by his own countrymen. Upon leaving England he visited the continent, and the greetings there from crowned heads and common people were repetitions of the receptions he had met ever since he landed in Europe. The United States man-of-war “Vandalia” had been put at his disposal, and on board that vessel he made a cruise in the Mediterranean, visiting Italy, Egypt, and the Holy Land. He sailed from Marseilles for India, 23 January, 1879, arrived at Bombay, 12 February, and from there visited Calcutta and many other places of interest. His journey through the country called forth a series of demonstrations which resembled the greetings to an emperor passing through his own realms. He sailed in the latter part of March for Burma, and afterward visited the Malacca Peninsula, Siam, Cochin China, and Hong-Kong, arriving at the latter place on 30 April. He made a tour into the interior of China, and was everywhere received with honors greater than had ever been bestowed upon a foreigner. At Pekin, Prince Kung requested him to act as sole arbitrator in the settlement of the dispute between that country and Japan concerning the Loo Choo Islands. His plans prevented him from entering upon the duties of arbitrator, but he studied the questions involved and gave his advice on the subject, and the matters in dispute were afterward settled without war. On 21 June he reached Nagasaki, where he was received by the imperial officials and became the guest of the Mikado. The attention shown him while in Japan exceeded in some of its features that which he had received in any of the other countries included in his tour. The entertainments prepared in his honor were memorable in the history of that empire. He sailed from Yokohama, 3 September, and reached San Francisco on the 20th. He had not visited the Pacific Coast since he had served there as a lieutenant of infantry. Preparations had been made for a reception that should surpass any ever accorded to a public man in that part of the country, and the demonstration in the harbor of San Francisco on his arrival formed a pageant equal to anything of the kind seen in modern times. On his journey east he was tendered banquets and public receptions, and greeted with every manifestation of welcome in the different cities at which he stopped. Early in 1880 he travelled through some of the southern states and visited Cuba and Mexico. In the latter country he was hailed as its staunchest and most pronounced friend in the days of its struggle against foreign usurpation, and the people testified their gratitude by extending to him every possible act of personal and official courtesy. On his return he took his family to his old home in Galena, Illinois. A popular movement had begun looking to his renomination that year for the presidency, and overtures were made to him to draw him into an active canvass for the purpose of accomplishing this result; but he declined to take any part in the movement, and preferred that the nomination should either come to him unsolicited or not at all. When the Republican Convention met in Chicago in June, 1880, his name was presented, and for thirty-six ballots he received a vote that only varied between 302 and 313. Many of his warmest admirers were influenced against his nomination by a traditional sentiment against a third presidential term, and after a long and exciting session the delegates to the convention compromised by nominating General James A. Garfield. General Grant devoted himself loyally during this political canvass to the success of the party that had so often honored him, and contributed largely by his efforts to the election of the candidate.
In August, 1881, General Grant bought a house in New York, where he afterward spent his winters, while his summers were passed at his cottage at Long Branch. On Christmas eve, 1883, he slipped and fell upon the icy sidewalk in front of his house, and received an injury to his hip, which proved so severe that he never afterward walked without the aid of a crutch. Finding himself unable with his income to support his family properly, he had become a partner in a banking-house in which one of his sons and others were interested, bearing the name of Grant and Ward, and invested all his available capital in the business. He took no part in the management, and the affairs of the firm were left almost entirely in the hands of the junior partner. In May, 1884, the firm without warning suspended. It was found that two of the partners had been practising a series of unblushing frauds, and had robbed the general and his family of all they possessed, and left them hopelessly bankrupt. Until this time he had refused all solicitations to write the history of his military career for publication, intending to leave it to the official records and the historians of the war. Almost his only contribution to literature was an article entitled “An Undeserved Stigma,” in the “North American Review” for December, 1882, which he wrote as an act of justice to General Fitz-John Porter, whose case he had personally investigated. But now he was approached by the conductors of the “Century” magazine with an invitation to write a series of articles on his principal campaigns, which he accepted, for the purpose of earning money, of which he was then greatly in need, and he accordingly produced four articles for that periodical. Finding this a congenial occupation, and receiving handsome offers from several publishers, he set himself to the task of preparing two volumes of personal memoirs, in which he told the story of his life down to the close of the war, and proved himself a natural and charming writer, and a valuable contributor to history. The contract for the publication of the book was made on 27 February, 1885, and the work appeared about a year afterward. The sales were enormous, having reached up to this time 312,000 sets. The amount that Mrs. Grant has already (June, 1887) received as her share of the profits is $394,459.53, paid in two checks, of $200,000 and $150,000, and several smaller amounts, the largest sum ever received by an author or his representatives from the sale of any single work. It is expected by the publishers that the amount of half a million dollars will be ultimately paid to the general's family. In the summer of 1884 General Grant complained of a soreness in the throat and roof of the mouth. In August he consulted a physician, and a short time afterward the disease was pronounced to be cancer at the root of the tongue. The sympathies of the entire nation were now aroused, messages of hope and compassion poured in from every quarter, and on 4 March, 1885, Congress passed a bill creating him a general on the retired list, thus restoring him to his former rank in the army. He knew that his disease would soon prove fatal. He now bent all his energies to the completing of his “Memoirs,” in order that the money realized from the sale might provide for his family. He summoned all his will power to this task, and nothing in his career was more heroic than the literary labor he now performed. Hovering between life and death, suffering almost constant agony, and speechless from disease, he struggled through his daily task, and laid down his pen only four days before his death. At this time the last portrait was made of the great soldier, which appears on page 713.
On 16 June, 1885, he was moved to the Joseph W. Drexel cottage on Mount McGregor, near Saratoga, New York, where he passed the remaining five weeks of his life. (See illustration on page 721.) The cottage was offered by its owner as a gift to the U.S. government. As it was not accepted, Mr. Drexel keeps the cottage and its contents in the condition they were in at the time of the general's death, and will continue to do so. On Thursday, 23 July, at eight o clock in the morning, Grant passed away, surrounded by his family. The remains were taken to New York, escorted by a detachment of U.S. troops and a body of the Grand Army of the republic composed of veterans of the war. A public funeral was held in New York on Saturday, 8 August, which was the most magnificent spectacle of the kind ever witnessed in this country. The body was deposited in a temporary tomb in Riverside park, overlooking the Hudson River, where it is proposed to erect an imposing monument, for which about $125,000 have already (June, 1887) been subscribed. In Chicago a bronze equestrian statue of the general, executed by Rebisso, will soon be erected near the centre of Lincoln park, overlooking Lake Michigan. The illustration on page 723 is a representation of the statue, and on the following page is a view of the eastern façade of the structure, designed by Whitehouse, which is surmounted by the statue. The large collection of swords, gold-headed canes, medals, rare coins, and other articles that had been presented to General Grant passed into the possession of William H. Vanderbilt as security in a financial transaction shortly before the general's death. After that event Mr. Vanderbilt returned the articles to Mrs. Grant, by whom they were given to the United States government, and the entire collection is now in the National museum at Washington. Among the many portraits of the great soldier, perhaps the best are those painted by Healy for the Union league club about 1865, and another executed in Paris in 1877, now in the possession of the family, those painted in 1882 by Le Clear for the White House at Washington and the Calumet club of Chicago, and one executed by Ulke for the U. S. war department where is also to be seen a fine marble bust executed in 1872-'3, by Hiram Powers. See “Military History of Ulysses S. Grant, from April, 1861, to April, 1865,” by Adam Badeau (3 vols., New York, 1867-81); “Life and Public Services of General U.S. Grant,” by James Grant Wilson (1868); revised and enlarged edition (1886); “The Ancestry of General Grant and their Contemporaries,” by Edward C. Marshall (1869); “Around the World with General Grant,” by John Russell Young (1880); and “Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant,” written by himself (2 vols., 1885-'6); also various biographies and numerous addresses, among them one by Henry Ward Beecher, delivered in Boston, 22 October, 1885. —
His wife, Julia Dent, born in St. Louis, Missouri, 26 January, 1826, is the daughter of Frederick and Ellen Wrenshall Dent. Her father was the son of Captain George Dent, who led the forlorn hope at Fort Montgomery, when it was stormed by Mad Anthony Wayne. On her mother's side she was descended from John Wrenshall, who came from England to this country to escape religious intolerance, and settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania At the age of ten years she was sent to Miss Moreau's boarding-school, where she remained for eight years. Soon after her return home she met Lieutenant Grant, then of the 4th Infantry, stationed at Jefferson barracks at St. Louis, and in the spring of 1844 became engaged to him. Their marriage, deferred by the war with Mexico, took place on 22 August, 1848. The first four years of her married life were spent at Detroit, Michigan, and at Sackett's Harbor, New York, where Captain Grant was stationed. In 1852 Mrs. Grant returned to her father's home in St. Louis, her health not being sufficiently strong to accompany her husband to California, whither his command had been ordered. Two years later he resigned from the army and joined his family in St. Louis. During the Civil War Mrs. Grant passed much of the time with General Grant, or near the scene of action, he sending for her whenever opportunity permitted. She was with him at City Point in the winter of 1864-'5, and accompanied him to Washington when he returned with his victorious army. She saw her husband twice inaugurated president of the United States, and was his companion in his journey around the world. She herself has said: “Having learned a lesson from her predecessor, Penelope, she accompanied her Ulysses in his wanderings around the world.” After General Grant's death a bill was passed by Congress giving his widow a pension of $5,000 a year. She is the fourth to whom such a pension has been granted, the others being Mrs. Tyler, Mrs. Polk, and Mrs. Garfield. Four children were born to her — three sons, Frederick Dent, Ulysses, Jr., and Jesse, and one daughter, Nellie, who, in 1874, married Algernon Sartoris, and went with him to live in England. Mrs. Grant resides in New York City, surrounded by her children and grandchildren. — Their eldest son, Frederick Dent, born in St. Louis, Missouri, 30 May, 1850, accompanied his father during the Civil War, and was in five battles before he was thirteen years of age. In 1867 he entered the U. S. Military Academy, where he was graduated in 1871 and assigned to the 4th Cavalry . During the summer of 1871 he was employed on the Union Pacific and Colorado Central Railroads as an engineer. Late in 1871 he visited Europe with General Sherman, and in 1872 was detailed to command the escort to the party that was making the preliminary survey for the Southern Pacific Railroad. In 1873 he was assigned to the staff of General Sherman as lieutenant-colonel, in which capacity he served eight years, accompanying nearly every expedition against the Indians. He was with his father in 1879 in the oriental part of the journey round the world, and in 1881 resigned his commission. During his father's illness, Colonel Grant remained constantly with him and assisted somewhat in the preparation of the “Personal Memoirs.” Since General Grant's death his son has had the care of his mother and her estate, residing with her. [Appleton’s 1892] pp. 709-725.
GRAY, Alfred G., naval officer, born in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1818; died in Brooklyn, New York, 10 November, 1876. He went to sea at the age of seventeen, and became a captain when twenty-seven. He was appointed lieutenant in the Texan service in 1843, when he commanded the sloop-of-war " Austin" in the engagement off Campeachy with the Mexican War steamships "Regenerador," "Guadalupe," and "Montezuma.' During the Civil War he was for three years captain of the army transport "McClellan " and other vessels. In 1805 he entered the service of the Pacific mail steamship Company, by whom he was made commodore in 1874. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 728
GRAYSON, John Breckenridge, soldier, born in Kentucky in 1807; died in Florida in 1862. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1826, serving in the artillery-school for practice at Fortress Monroe till 4 June, 1828, and was then on topographical duty till 29 March, 1832. He was on duty in various forts and garrisons until 1835, became 1st lieutenant, 30 April, 1834, served in the Seminole War in 1835-'6, and on commissary duty at New Orleans in 1836-'47. He was promoted to a captaincy, 11 December, 1838, and served in the Mexican War in 1847-'8, as chief of commissariat of the army under General Scott. He was at Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Churubusco, where he was brevetted major, Molino del Rey, Chapultepec, where he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel, and at the assault and capture of the city of Mexico. On his return to the United States he was assigned to commissary duty at Detroit, Michigan, was promoted major, 21 Oct, 1852, and made chief of the commissariat of the department of New Mexico till 1861. He resigned his commission on 1 July, 1861, and joined the Confederate Army. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 732.
GRAYSON, William John, statesman, born in Beaufort, South Carolina, in November, 1788; died in Newbern, 4 October, 1863. He was graduated at the College of Charleston, South Carolina, in 1809, and bred to the legal profession. Entering upon its practice at Beaufort, he became a commissioner in equity of South Carolina, a member of the state legislature in 1813, and a senator in 1831. He opposed the Tariff Act in 1831, but was not disposed to push the collision to the extreme of Civil War. He served in Congress from 2 December, 1833, till 3 March, 1837, and in 1841 was appointed collector of customs at Charleston. In 1843 he retired to his plantation. During the secession agitation of 1850 he published a "Letter to Governor Seabrook," deprecating disunion, and pointing out the evils that would follow it. He died of an illness following on a paralytic stroke. He was a frequent contributor to the "Southern Review," and also published "The Hireling and Slave," a poem (Charleston, South Carolina, 1854); "Chicora and Other Poems "; "The Country," a poem; "The Life of James L. Petigru " (New York, 1866); and is supposed to have been the author of a narrative poem entitled " Marion." Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 733.
