DEATH OF GENERAL GRANT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2051, 25 July 1885, Page 2

DEATH OF GENERAL GRANT.

A cable message received yesterday afternoon couveys the news that General Grant died on the 23rd inst., at the age of 63. In him has passed away a man upon whom the nation of the United States will look with love and reverence that will only be exceeded by that which they bear for the man who gave it birth—Washington. For some time past General Grant has been in bad health, his chief trouble being cancer of the tongue, and his demise was therefore not altogether unexpected, The following extracts, taken from various sources, shouldjprove interesting: Ulysses Simpson Giant was born at Point Pleasant, Ohio, April 27th 1822. He entered the military Academy at West Point in 1839, graduated in 1843, received his commision as second lieutenant in 1845, and served in the Mexican campaign under Generals Taylor and Scott. In 1852 he was ordered to Oregen and in 1853 became captain. Hereeignedhis commisioninlßs4, andhavingresided for four or five years atStLouis, removed to Galena, Illinois, where he en-

gaged business withhisfatherandbrotherß, When the Civil War broke out in 1861, he was appointed aide-de-camp to the Governor of Illinois, and then Colonel of the 21st Illinois Volunteers. Shortly afterwards he was appointed Brigadier-General. Ho soon distinguished himself by his intrepodity. fle took several fortified positions in Kentucky, and on the 21st of November fought and won the battle of Belmont. In February 1862 he took Forts Henry, and Donaldson, and forced the surrender of Columbus and Bowling Green. Hewas then appointed commander in West Tennessee, and on April 6th and 7th, fought the battle of Shiloh. During the siege of Corinth, he was second in command to General Halleck, whom he succeeded as commander in the Tennessee district. Proceeding down the Mississippi he captured quite a number of strongholds, and eventually cleared the way to the sea by starving out the garrison of •Yicksbure;, July 4th 1863. Be was then called away to the central States, where General Rosecranz had been unable to hold his own. Being largely reinforced, he defeated General Bragg in the. hard fought battle of Chattanooga. Being appointed Lieutenant General and Commander in Chief, .he loft the central forces in comand of General Sherman with instructions to march against General Johnston towards the east, while he took the field against General Lee, whose headquarters were in Virginia. After a series of the most desperate and bloody battles known in modern history, Richmond and Petersburg, were invested, and the last line of the main Confederate army was broken on April 2nd, 1865; and seven daya later General Lee, after a futile attempt to retreat, surrendered'with his whole army Appomattock Court-house. General Grant was loaded with presents and recognitions of the services he had rendered the States. It was perhaps natural that he should turn his attention io politips, and that, when in 1868 ho. stood for the Presidency, in the interests of the Republican party, he was returned by a very large majority. In 1872 he was elected for'a second term. His administration was not marked by anything that deserves either great praise or severe blame, At the expiration of his second term ho set our for a tour through Europe, and was treated by all the Courts, with the distinction which was due to him. On his return he re-entered commercial pursuits, but was ruined through the gambling transactions- of a partner, in 1884. His health then commenced to fail, and ho never seems to have recovered. In manner and' mode of life,. General Grant,wae exceedingly simple, apd neither his sucoess in the field nor the high position which was afterwards conferred upon him by the

nation, could change him. : In him, thfe ration hiu lost one of its besfc and truest men, find his name will be hfiridtd down . to posterity, as that of one.of .its brightest ornaments.- ' ' ".' - ',tL