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The Ulysses S. Grant Association |
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The Ulysses S. Grant Association |
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Born in Ohio in 1823, James L. Crane joined the Methodist Episcopal Church and moved to Illinois, where he attended a seminary at Paris. Assigned to the Danville circuit in 1846, he became familiar to Methodists throughout central Illinois, serving as presiding elder of the Paris, Danville, and Springfield circuits.
On June 28, 1861, Col. Ulysses S. Grant certified that a majority of captains in the 21st Illinois Infantry had chosen Crane, then of Urbana, as regimental chaplain. (Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, Vol. 2, p. 56.) The new chaplain and his colonel had much in common. Roughly the same age, fellow Ohioans and Methodists, they also shared political views. Grant later noted that Crane, "so far as he entertained politics ... was a Democrat but a staunch supporter of the War from the start." (PUSG, 16, 222.) The two men became good friends during the three months they served together. The offer of a staff position, as Crane relates it, shows that Grant valued his chaplain enough to envision him in a different capacity. It made sense that Grant would seek to attach to himself a man of such similar background. Grant continued to think highly of Crane long after their brief time together. When Grant became president he appointed Crane postmaster of Springfield, a lucrative office ($4,000 a year) sought after by Illinois Republicans. (PUSG, 19, 458.) Crane held the job until Grant left office in 1877. To bestow a key patronage position on a man lacking Republican credentials, instead of using it to reward party regulars, demonstrated Grant's fondness for Crane.
Crane, who returned to the ministry, lived only two more years, dying July 29, 1879, in Shelbyville, Illinois. His recollections of Grant, published after both had died (in McClure's Magazine, in 1896), are noteworthy for their lack of embellishment. Crane's portrait of his famous friend rings true. Just as Grant demonstrated his regard for Crane, so Crane's narrative shows that he recognized in his colonel many qualities that others came to value. Grant's unassuming style, his quiet authority, his knack for finding a logical course through chaotic circumstances--Crane seems to have marked these at the time, and his memoir manages to avoid both over-reliance on hindsight and hero-worship. His close observations of Grant so early in the war provide a valuable glimpse of a man at the beginning of a meteoric career.
Grant is about five feet ten inches in height, and will weigh one hundred and fifty pounds. He has a countenance indicative of reserve, and an indomitable will, and a persistent purpose. In dress he is indifferent and careless, making no pretensions to style or fashionable military display. Had he continued colonel till now, I think his uniform would have lasted till this day, for he never used it, except on dress parade, and then seemed to regard it a good deal as David did Saul's armor. He usually wore a plain blue blouse coat, and an ordinary black felt hat, and never had about him a single mark to distinguish his rank. While he is reserved in his intercourse with strangers, yet in the quiet circle of friends, especially when the cares and duties of office are over, he is free, frank, communicative, and agreeable in the highest degree. He regards smoking as a luxury; and if he takes a pride in anything, apart from the success of his enterprises, it is in his horsemanship. In his estimation a good horse is next to a good soldier.
"His body is a vial of intense existence;" and yet when a stranger saw him in a crowd, he would never think of asking his name. He is no dissembler, no assumer of snob dignity; he has more than ordinary freedom from selfishness, and appears to no one as an ambitious man. He is a sincere, thinking, real man; by real we mean that he does not take to show, shams, or "flourishes," but to realities.
He is always cheerful; no toil, cold, heat, hunger, fatigue, or want of money depresses him. He was just as buoyant while a colonel, away from paymasters, looking after bushwhackers in Missouri, and with scarce money enough to prepay a letter or buy a pipe full of kinnikinick, as he is as the hero of a hundred battles, and the commander-in-chief of the finest army in the world, and with the wealth of the nation at his command.
In action he is bold and daring, almost to a fault, and the excitement of the contest fires the whole man. Yet he never loses his self-control, and the influence of discipline and training can be seen in his most rapid movements. He goes to battle as though a charitable country was watching him; as though he felt intensely the responsibility of his station--that hundreds and thousands of hearts were resting, for weal or woe, upon his decisions and movements.
In private he is magnanimous, having a special regard for the feelings and interests of others. He has no desire to rise by the fall of others; no glorying over another's abasement; no exulting over another's tears. He went forth to the field of strife only at the call of his country, and he strikes at her bidding, smites at her command; and when the rebellion shall cry "enough," and his country shall bid him retire, he will quietly and dutifully return and repose on the bosom he has so bravely defended.
He does his work at the time, and he requires all under his command to be equally prompt. I was walking over the encampment with him one morning after breakfast. It was usual for each company to call the roll at a given hour; it was now, probably, half an hour after the time for that duty. The colonel was quietly smoking his old meerschaum, and talking and walking leisurely along, when he noticed a company drawn up in line, and the roll being called. He instantly drew his pipe from his mouth, and exclaimed: "Captain, this is no time for calling the roll; order your men to their quarters immediately." The command was instantly obeyed, and the colonel resumed his smoking, and walked on conversing as quietly as if nothing had happened. For this violation of discipline those men went without their rations that day, excepting what they gathered up privately from among their friends of other companies. Such a breach of order was never witnessed in the regiment afterward while he was colonel. This promptness is one of Grant's characteristics, and it is one of the causes of his success. A want of this coming to time has been the cause of many of the disasters that have attended our arms. A general is behind time with his division or corps, and the day is lost. We may conjecture that the battle of Bull Run would have resulted in our favor had Patterson been prompt to intercept the reënforcements of the enemy, as he was directed.
Grant would correct, and, if necessary, punish any want of conformity to rule, or neglect of orders, or infraction of regulations, in as cool and unruffled a manner as you would give directions to your gardener before breakfast.
On one of our marches, while passing through one of those small towns where the grocery is the principal establishment, some of the lovers of intoxication had broken or glided away from our lines, and filled their canteens with whiskey, and soon were reeling and ungovernable under its influence. While apparently stopping the regiment for rest, Grant passed quietly along the ranks, and took each canteen, and whenever he detected the odor, emptied the liquor on the ground with as much nonchalance as he would empty his pipe, and had the offenders tied behind the baggage wagons till they had sobered into soldierly propriety. On this point his orders were imperative--no whiskey or intoxicating beverages were allowed in his camp.
Right here I would notice the report that once obtained some circulation, that Grant was a lover of ardent spirits himself, and that he indulged too freely in their use. Of this report I would say that I was with him for the most part of three months, in all sorts of weather, marches, and exposure; we ate at the same table, often slept in the same tent, and sat around the same camp-fire; and I never knew him to allow ardent spirits in the regiment, nor did I ever know him even to taste them in any form. I have seen him in company with his superiors in office, where wine and brandy were freely passing, and, when offered to him, he invariably refused; usually remarking that he never indulged in anything stronger than coffee and tobacco.
His promptness and energy in correcting errors, and reforming abuses in his regiment, sometimes led his men, especially those who were guilty, to feel that he was hard and severe beyond necessity. But while he was thus vigilant and active in enforcing strict discipline, yet he was not unfeeling nor indifferent in regard to the sufferings which the necessary penalties of camp-life brought upon unsophisticated and unintentional offenders.
When we halted at Salt River, Missouri, two of our young bloods, supposing that it was necessary to show their hatred to the rebellion by some valorous exploit, had hardly pitched their tents when they started off, on their own responsibility, to seek for the enemies of the Union. They left in the afternoon, stayed all night, and came back next day with flying colors, bringing with them a "secesher" and two of his horses. Grant was seated by the door of his tent when the two heroes brought the trophies of their victory before him. He did not rise from his seat, nor pull his pipe from his mouth, but quietly asked the boys: "Who gave you permission to be absent from camp?"
"Nobody; we just thought we'd go out and look after some 'seceshers,' and we've found this feller and brought him up;" and they pointed triumphantly to the prisoner, who was still sitting on his horse, and looked as if he expected to be shot before he could say his prayers.
"I'll attend to your case first," said the colonel; and the flush of victory began to fade from their faces as he continued: "Captain, you will take these boys, and have them tied to a tree for six hours, for leaving camp without permission."
The boys looked crestfallen, and disappeared in company with the captain. After the colonel had questioned the trembling farmer, and his professions of attachment to the Union were found to be satisfactory, and he freely took the oath of allegiance, he set him at liberty, and leisurely resumed his smoking, and in half a minute looked as though nothing unusual had happened. Then turning to me, with apparently no aim in his remark, he inquired:
"Chaplain, what do you think of camp-life by this time?""It is entirely a new phase of life to me, Colonel, and I have hardly been able to come to a definite conclusion yet."
"What did you think of the conduct of those two young men?" he asked, as coolly as if he were inquiring about the weather.
"I think the young men were not intentionally guilty of a violation of discipline; the method was irregular, but they, doubtless, thought they were doing a good thing for the country."
"Do you think I punished them too severely?"
"Well, Colonel, I do not know that I am prepared to judge of what is too severe in military life."
"I don't ask you for a military opinion; I ask for your opinion as a citizen. Chaplains are not supposed to be military men; they are supposed to carry into camp the same feelings and views of justice and right they had in civil life." And he raised his eyes as if to see whether I were appreciating his remarks.
"As you have asked me for a candid opinion, I will give it. I think the punishment of those boys was not proportioned to their offence. If it were I, six hours tied up to a tree would be a serious business. I think it was rather too severe on the boys, Colonel."
"But, Chaplain, suppose we were surrounded by an enemy, and men were allowed to stray from camp; they would be taken prisoners or lose their lives in such a case."
"That appears reasonable, Colonel; but we are not near an enemy. Besides, the boys are in a new position, and know not exactly what is expected of them, and had no idea what they were bringing on themselves."
"But we should so prepare when the enemy is at a distance that we may be ready when he is near at hand."
"That is true, sir; yet I still think a milder punishment for unwitting offenders would as effectually work the same result."
"The colonel stroked his beard with his left hand, a habit to which he is accustomed when there is the slightest interruption to the current of his thoughts, and he puffed his smoke with renewed vigor, and, reflecting a moment, called out:
"Orderly, go and tell the guard to release those boys tied to the trees; they have been punished long enough."
His honesty is above suspicion. I regard him as one of the most incorruptible men in the nation. He allowed no man to take, unlawfully, a single cent from the government, if he had the power to prevent it. Therefore he never was a great favorite with contractors and cotton speculators. He had no patience or time to stop and parley with any one who was trying to make a nice thing off of the miseries of the country and hardships of the soldiery.
In the early part of the war it was too common for some colonels and
generals to detail favorites to go away on government business, and at
government expense, while in reality they were going on a visit home,
or to some rendezvous of pleasure, purely for their own gratification.
No doubt, in this way the government has been defrauded of thousands of
dollars. None of this would Grant ever permit. He claimed that his
faith to his country, in this respect, should be kept as sacred as his
faith to a partner in business. It was refreshing to an honest man's
soul to see how coolly he cold refuse all such applicants. When they
attempted to argue that their double dealing was justifiable, he would
dryly reply: "I wish no further conversation on that point;" and turn
from them with the most perfect unconcern. No amount of talent or
personal influence, or influence of friends in high life, could for a
moment swerve him from his conscientious integrity. He is:
"Formed on the good old plan,
A true and brave and downright honest man."
In the afternoon of a very hot day in July, 1861, while the regiment was stationed in the town of Mexico, Missouri, I had gone to the cars, as they were passing and procured the "Daily Missouri Democrat," and seated myself in the shadow of my tent to read the news. In the telegraphic column I soon came to the announcement that Grant, with several others, was made brigadier-general. In a few minutes he came walking that way, and I called to him:
"Colonel, I have some news here that will interest you."
"What have you, Chaplain?"
"I see that you are made brigadier-general."
He seated himself by my side, and remarked:
"Well, sir, I had no suspicion of it. It never came from any request of mine. That's some of Washburn[e]'s work. I knew Washburn in Galena. He was a strong Republican, and I was a Democrat, and I thought from that he never liked me very well. Hence we never had more than a business or street acquaintance. But when the war broke out I found that he had induced Governor Yates to appoint me mustering officer of the Illinois volunteers, and after that had something to do in having me commissioned colonel of the Twenty-first Regiment, and I suppose this is more of his work." And he very leisurely rose up and pulled his black felt hat a little nearer his eyes, and made a few extra passes at his whiskers, and walked away about his business with as much apparent unconcern as if some one had merely told him that his new suit of clothes was finished.
Grant belongs to no church organization, yet he entertains and expresses the highest esteem for all the enterprises that tend to promote religion. When at home he generally attended the Methodist Episcopal church, with which some of the members of his family were connected. While he was colonel of the Twenty-first Regiment he gave every encouragement and facility for securing a prompt and uniform observance of religious services, and was generally found in the audience listening to preaching.
Shortly after I came into the regiment, our mess were one day taking their usual seats around the dinner table, when Colonel Grant remarked:
"Chaplain, when I was at home, and ministers were stopping at my house, I always invited them to ask a blessing at the table. I suppose that a blessing is as much needed here as at home; and if it is agreeable with your views, I should be glad to have you ask a blessing every time we sit down to eat."
The inexcusable and foolish practice of using profane language, a practice too common in the army, and even among intelligent officers, is a habit to which Grant never degraded himself. I never heard him use anything like an oath under the most provoking excitements.
He was at heart and in expression an anti-slavery man, yet he had but little sympathy with the previous movements and opinions of the so-called ultra-Abolitionists. He believed slavery to be an anomaly in a free government like ours; that its tendency was subversive of the best interests of the master and the enslaved, and our common prosperity as a nation; that it hindered the development of the highest interests of humanity; that it promoted aristocracy and a privileged class; that it encouraged idleness and an inclination to rely upon others to do what we ought to do ourselves; that it resulted in one man lording it over the consciences of others where God alone should be supreme; that it resulted in denying the slave the rights of his moral nature, annihilated his capacity for improvement, shut out the light of truth, and bound his soul in the chains of hopeless ignorance and degradation.
Yet he did not regard the present war as being commenced on the part of the national government for the purpose of interfering with slavery, but for the purpose of enforcing the laws, suppressing the rebellion, and maintaining the Union entire and the Constitution inviolate. He often remarked, however, that he believed slavery would die with this rebellion, and that it might become necessary for the government to suppress it as a stroke of military policy.
While we were at Mexico, Missouri, a slave came to our headquarters one afternoon, fleeing from his master. He was greatly frightened and fatigued, and while panting and puffing with the heat, he inquired, in half frantic tones:
"Whar's de cunnel?"
"This is the colonel," said I, pointing to him sitting by my side.
"What will you have, sir?" said Grant.
"I--I's--Mr.--Mr. Cunnel, I's had to run'd away, sah. Massa's orful hawd on me, sah. He's close onto me, sah. Kin yo help me, cunnel?"
"Can't help you, sir; we are not here to look after negroes, but after rebels. You must take care of yourself."
The discomfited negro dropped his head and exclaimed, half as if talking to himself:
"Lawd, I's afeerd massa 'll be onto me!"
His eyes stood out full an eighth of an inch farther than usual, and he trembled from head to foot. As he was about turning away, I beckoned to him to come around behind the tent. I took him to our cooking-department and filled his pockets with cold biscuits and meat, and gave him a half dollar, and told him to make for the woods close by, and steer northeast, and not to consider himself safe till he had crossed the Mississippi River. He bent himself nearly to the ground in his manifestations of gratitude. I went with him and passed him through the guards; and his running for the woods was after the manner of the driving of Jehu, the son of Nimshi, and would have refreshed the soul of a conductor of the "underground railroad."
He had not been gone more than an hour or two when his master and another man made their appearance, inquiring after the fugitive. To the master Grant made about the same reply that he had to the slave--that we were not here to look after negroes, but after rebels.
The pursuers evidently did not relish the reply, and were about to turn away with angry mutterings, when Grant desired to know whether they were opposed to the rebellion, and in favor of the Union. They were inclined to be evasive in answering that question, as Grant had been in communicating intelligence about the missing negro. They were finally informed that they could not leave our lines without taking the oath of allegiance.