Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 June 1885 — Page 3

GRANT’S LIFE.

Extracts from the General’s Personal Memoirs—The Interview With Lincoln. His Peculiar Feelings Just Before the First Battle Humorously Described. • ’• '’) ■ . ’.' 4 J How Chattanooga Was Saved—The Wilderness Campaigru-Vari-ous Other Anecdotes. The crowning -work of Gen. Grant's life—his personal memoirs, written by himself—is how practically complete, and in the hands of the publishers. There will be two volumes, of 500 pages each. The first will contain the family genealogy and a history of the General’s boyhood and youth. It will have for frontispiece an eneraving of Lieut. U. S. Grant at the age of 21. The second volume deals mainly with the events of the war of the rebellion, i The text will be freely illustrated by plans and maps showing the maneuvers of the armies on the various fields of battle. The volume treats of the battle of Chattanooga, Hooker’s fight above the clouds on Lookout Mountain, and all the subsequent operations up to the great battle of the Wilderness. The capture of Atlanta, Sherman's march to the sea, and his operations in Georgia, North and South Carolina, 1 as well as Sheridan’s raid down the Shenandoah Valley and his victory at Five Forks, are described. The' Appomattox campaign, culminating with the final scene of Lee’s surrender at McLean’s house, is graphically told. The apple-tree legend and the story of Lee’s sword are authentically settled. The first volume contains little of interest. The story of Grant’s early Jife as told by himself is conventional and quite devoid of exciting incident. But in the second volume, where the memoirs deal with the thrilling events of the war, the simple, lucid style in which the workils written is pleasing, and the interest never flags. —’ From advance sheets of the work the following extracts are taken: Wrimtg of 1861, Gen. Grant says: ‘‘Going home for a day or two soon after a conversation with Gen. Pope, I wrote from. Galena the following letter to the Adjutant General of the army: —. . ' - ===*=.

- May?24,-1861-.—~ “Col. L. Thomas, Adjutant General U. 8. A., Washington, D. C.: “ Sir—Having served for fifteen years in the regular army, including four years at West Point, and feeling it the duty of every One who has been educated at the Government expense to offer his services for the support of tjjat Government, I have the honor very respectfully to tender my services until the close of tfie war in such capacity as may be offered. I would say, in view of my present age and length of service, I feel myself competent to command a regiment if the President in his judgment should see fit to intrust one to ipe. Since the first call of the President I have been serving on the staff of the Governor of this State, rendering such aid as I could in the organization of our State militia, and am still engaged in that capacity. A letter addressed to me at Springfield, 111., will reach me. l am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, U. S. Grant.” Gen. Grant, describing his first battle in the civil war, says: “As soon as the enemy saw us they decamped as fast as their horses would carry them. I kept my men in the ranks and forbade their entering any of the deserted houses oi; taking anything from them. We halted at night on the road and proceeded the next morning at an early hour. Harris had been encamped in a creek bottom for the sake of being near water. The hills on either side of the creek extend to a considerable height, possibly more than 100 feet. • As we approached the brow of the hill, from which it was expected we could see Harris’ camp and possibly find his men ready formed to meet us, my heart kept getting higher and higher, until it felt to me as though it was in my throat. I would have given anything then to have been back in Illinois, but I had not the moral courage to halt and consider what to do. I kent right bn. When we reached a point from which the valley below was in full view 1 halted. The place where Harris had been encamped a few days before was still there, and the marks of a recent encampment were plainly visible, but the troops were gone. My heart resumed its place. It occurred to me at once that Harris had been as much afraid of me as I had been of him. This was a view of the question I had never taken before, but it was one I never forgot afterward. From that event to the close of the war I never experienced trepidation on confronting an enemy. "At the battle cf Belmont, fearing that the enemy we had seen crossing the river below might be coming upon us unawares, I rode out in thc tield to our front—still entirely alone—to observe whether the enemy was passing. The field was grown up with corn so tall and thick as to cut off the view of even a person on horseback, except directly along the rows. Even in that direction, owing to the overhanging blades of corn, the view was not extensive. I had not gone more than a few hundred yards when I saw a body of troops marching past me not forty yards away. I looked at them for a moment, and then turned my horse toward the river, and started back, first in a walk, and when-1 thought myself concealed from the view of the enemy as fast as my horse could carry me. When at the river bank I still had to ride a few hundred yards to the point where the nearest transport lay. The corn-field in front of our transports terminated at the edge of a dense forest. Before I got back the enemy had entered this forest and had opened a brisk fire upon the boats. Otlr men, with the exception of details that had gone to the front after the wounded, were now either aboard the transports or very near them. Those who were not on board soon got there, and the boats pushed off. I was the only man of the national army between the rebels and our t ransports. The Captain of a boat that had just flushed out, but had not started, recognized me, and ordered the engineer not to start the fllgine. He then had a plank ran out for me. Mv horse seemed to take in the situation. There was no path down the bank, and every one acquainted with the Mis-si-sippi knows that its banks in a natural state do not vary at any great angle from the perpendicular. My horse put his fore feet over the bank without hesitation or urging, and with his hind feet well under’ him slid down the bank and trotted aboard the boat, twelve or fifteen feet away, over a single gang plank. I dismounted and went at once to the upper deck. “The description of the battle of Shiloh given by CoL William Preston Johnston is very graphic and well told. The reader will imagine that he can see at each blow struck a demoralized and broken mob of Federal soldiers, each blow sending the enemy more demoralized than ever toward the Tennessee River, which was a little more than two miles away at the beginning of the onset. If the reader does not stop to inquire why, with such Confederate success for more than twelve hours of hard fighting, the national troops were not all killed, captured, or driven into the river, he will regard the penpicture as perfect. But I witnessed the fight from the national side from 8 o’clock in the

morning until nicht closed the contest, and I see but little in the description that I can recognize. The Confederate troops fought well, and deserve commendation enough for their bravery and endurance on the 6th of April without detraction from their antagonists or claiming anything more than their due-. In an article on the battle of Shiloh which I wrote for the Century Magazine I stated that Gen. A. McD. McCook, who commanded a division of Buell's army, expressed some unwillingness to pursue the enemy Monday, April 7, because of the condition of the troops. Gen. Badeau also, in his history, makes the same statement on my authority. In justice to Gen. McCook and his command, I must say that they left a point twenty-two miles east of Savannah on the morning of the 6th. From the heavy rains of a few days previous, and the passage of trains and artillery, the roads were necessarily deep in mud, which made marching slow. The division had not only marched through this mud the day before, but it had been in the rain all night without rest. It was engaged in the battle -of the second day, and did as goM service as its position allowed. In fact, an opportunity occurred for it to perform a conspicuous act of gallantry, which elicited the highest commendation from division commanders in the Army of the Ten-. neseee. Gem Sherman, in both his memoirs and report, makes mention of this. fact. Gem McCook himself belonged to a family which furnished many volunteers to the army. 1 refer to these circumstances wi;h minuteness because I did Gem McCook injustice in my article in the Century, though not to the extent one would suppose from the public press. lam not willing to do any one an injustice, and if conrincedthat I have done one I am willing to make the fullest confession. v, “The campaign of Vicksburg was suggested ■ and developed by circumstances. The elections of 1862 > had gone against the prosecution of the war. Volunteen enlistments had nearly ceased and the draft had been re sorted to. This was resisted and a defeat or backward movement would have made its execution impossible. . A forward movement! to decisive victory was nece-sary. Accordingly, I resolved to get below unite with . Banks agajnst Port Hudson, make New Orleans

a base, and. with that baae and Grand Gulf aa a star Ing point, move our com blued forces against Vicksburg. Upon reaching Grand Gulf, after running its batteries tad figheintta battle, 1 received a letter from Banks informing me that he could not be at Port Hudson under ten days, and then with onlv fifteen thousand men. The time was worth more than the re-enforcements. I therefore determined to push into the interior »f the enemy’s country. With a large river behind us. held above and below by the enetav, rapid movements were essential to success. ' Jackson was captured the day after a new commander had arrived and when large re-enforce-ments were daily expected. A rapid movement west was made, and the garrison of Vicksburg wai met in five battles and badly defeated. The city was then successfully besieged." Following is an- account of Gen. Grant's appointment as Lieutenant General: “My commission as Lieutenant General was given to me on the 9th of March, 1864. On the following day 1 visited Gen. Meade, commanding the Army of the Potomac, at his headquarters at Biandy Station, ne&r the Rapidan. I had known Gen. Meade slightly in the Mexican war, but had not met him since until this visit. I was a stranger to most of the Army of the Potomac—l might say to all, except the officers of the regular army who had served in the Mexican war. There haa been some changes ordered in the organization of that army before my promotion.. On 4 Was the consolidation of five corps into three, thus throwing some officers of rank out of important commands. Meade evidently thought I might want to make s fill one more change not yet ordered. He said to me that I might want an officer who had served with me at the West, mentioning Sherman especially, to take his place. If so, he begged me not to hesitate about making the change." No reminiscence of war history will be read with greater interest than Gen. Grant’s account of first meeting with Mr. Lincoln, and Mr. Lincoln’s charge to him: . "Although hailjng from Illinois myself, the State of the Pres dent, I had never-met Mr. Lincoln until called to the capital to receive my commission as Lieutenant General. I knew him, however, very well and favorably from the accounts given by officers under me at theYt est who had known him all their lives. I had also read the remarkable course of debates between Lincoln knd Douglas a few years before, when they were rival candidates for the United States Senate. I was then a resident of Missouri, and by no means a ‘ Lincoln man’ in th t contest, but I recognized his great ability. In my first interview with Mr. Lincoln alone he stated that he bad never professed to be a military man or to know how campaigns should be conducted, and never wanted to interfere with tnem, but that procrastination on the part of the commanders and the pressure of the people at the North and of Congress, which, like the poor, he ‘had always with him,’ had forced him into issuing his well-known series of ‘executive orders.’ He did not know but they were all wrong, and did not doubt but some of them were. All he wanted, or ever had wanted.was that some one would take the responsibility and’act, and call on him for all the assistance needed.” Of, the Wilderness campaign the General says: “Operating as we were in an enemy s country, and supplied always from a distant base, large detachments had at all times to be sent from the front, rot only to guard the hage of supplies and the roads leading to it, out all the roads leading to our Hanks and rear. We were also operating in a country unknown to us, and without competent guides or maps showing the roads accurately. Estimating Lee's strength in the same manner as ours, the enemy had not less than eighty thousand men at the start. His re-enforcements during the campaign were about equal to ours deducting our discharged men and those sent back, Lee was on the defensive and in a country in which every stream, every road, every obstacle to the movements of troops, and every natural defense Was familiar to him and his army. The citizens were all friendly to him and his cause, and could and did furnish him with accurate reports of our every movement. Rear guards were not necessary for him, and, having always a railroad at his back, large wagon trains were not required. All circumstances considered, we did not have any advantage of numbers. Qn the morning of the 7th we sent out pickets and skirmishers along our entire front to discover the position of the enemy. Some went as far as a mile and a half ‘bef ore finding him- But Lee showed no disposition to come out. There was no battle during the day and but little firing, except in Warren's front about midday. Warren was directed to make a reconrioissance in force. This drew some sharp firing, but there was no attempt on the part of the rebels to drive them back. 'J his ended the battle of the Wilderness. More severe fighting has not been witnessed on this continent than that of the sth and 6th of May. 1864. Our victory consisted in having successfully crossed a formidable stream almost in the face of the enemy, and in getting the army together afterward as a unit. We gained an advantage on ti e morning of the Gth which, if it had been followed up. must have proven very decisive. In the evening the enetny gained an advantage, but was speedily repulsed. A 8 *«• stood at the close, the two armies were relatively in about the same condition to meet each other as when the river had divided them, but the fact of safely crossing was a victory. Our losses in the battle of the Wilderness were 2,261 killed, 8,785 wounded, and 2,902 missing-probably nearly all the lattier captured by the enemy.” ~-4>Gen. Grant thus describes Gen. Lee’s surrender: “1 found Gen. Lee had been brought into our lines and conducted to a house belonging fax a Mr. McLean, and was there with one of his staff officers waiting mv arrival. The head of his column was occupying a hill, a portion of which was an apple orchard, across the little valley from the Court House. Sheridan’s forces were drawn up in line of battle on the crest of the hill, on the south side of the same valley. Before stating what took place between Gen. Lee and myself. I will give all there is of the narrative of Gen. Lee and the famous apple tree. Wars produce many stories of fiction, some of which are told until they are believed. The war of the rebellion was fruitful in the same way. The story of the apple tree is one of those fictions, with a slight foundation of fact. “As I have said, there was an apple Orchard on the side of the hill occupied by the Confederate forces. Running diagonally up the hill Was a wagon road, which at one point ran very near one of the trees, so that the wheels on that side had cut off the roots of the tree, which made a little embankment. Gen. Babcock reported tQ,me that when he met Gen. Lee he was sitting upon the embankment, with his feet on the road, and leaning against the tree. It was then that Lee was Conducted into the house, where I first met him. I had known Gen. Lee in the old army, and had served with him in the Mexican war, but did not suppose, owing to the differences in our ages and rant that he would probably remember me, while 1 would remember him more distinctly because he was the chief .engineer on the staff of General Scott in the Mexican war. When I left camp that morning I had not expected the result so soon that was then taking place, and, consequently, was in rough garb, and without a sword, aS I usually was when on horseback on the field, wearing a soldier’s blouse for a coat, with shoulder-straps of my rank to indicate who I was to the army. When I Went into the house 1 found Gen. Lee. We greeted each other, and after shaking hands took our seats. What his feelings were Ido not know. Being a man of much dignity, and with an Impenetrable face, it was impossible to say whether he felt inwardly glad the end had finally come, or whether he felt sadly over the result and was too manly to show it. Whatever his feelings, they were entirely concealed from observation; but my own feelings, which had been quite apparent on the receipt of his letter, were sad and depressed. I felt like anything rather than rejoic ng at the downfall of a foe that had fought so long and gallantly, and had suffered so much for a cause which I believed to be one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and for which there was not the least pretext. Ido not question, however, the sincerity of the great mass of those who were opposed to u,s. Gen. Lee was dressed in full uniform, entirely new, and wearing a sword of considerable value: ( yery likely the sword that had been presented by the State of Virginia. At all events, it was an entirely different sword from the one that woulct ordinarily be worp -in the field. In my rough traveling suit, which was the uniform of a private with the straps of a General, I must have contrasted very strangely with a man so handsomely dressed, six feet high, and of faultless form. But this was not a matter that I thought of Until afterward. Gen. Lee and I soon fell into a conversation about old army times. He remarked that he remembered me very well in the old army, and I told him, as a matter of course, I remembered him perfectly, but owing to the difference In years—there being about sixteen years difference in our ages-and our rank, I thought it very likely I had not attracted his attention sufficiently to be remembered after such a long period. Our conversation grew so pleasantrthat I almost forget the object of our meeting. Gen. Lee at that time was accompanied by one or his staff officers, a Col. Mar-hall I had all of my staff with me, a good portion of whom were in the room during the interview." This is Gen. Grant’s account of how Chattanooga was saved: "On receipt of Mr. Dana’s dispatch Mr. Stanton sent for me. Finding that I was out he became nervous and excited, inquiring of every person he met, including guests of the house, whether they knew where I was, and bidding them find me and send me to him at once. About II o'clock I returned to the hotel, and on my way, when near the house, every person I met was a messenger from the Secretary, apparently partaking of his impatience to see me. I hastened to the room of the Secretary, and fdund him pacing the floor rapidly . in about the garb Mr. Jefferson Davis was wearing subsequently when he was captured—i 1 ’ .\4fe- ", ' ;

dressing gown, but without the shawl and sunbonnet. He showed the 1 dispatch, saying that the retreat must be prevented. 1 immediately wrote an order assuming command of the Military Division of the Mississppl and telegraphed It to Gen. Rosecrans. I then telegraphed him the order from Washington asslgniug to Thomas the command of the Army of the Cumberland, and to Thomas that he most hold Chattanooga at all hazards.” Here is a funny story about Gen. Bragg, which Gen. Grant tells in his characteristically simple way: “I have heard a story in the old army very characteristic of Bragg. On one occasion, when stationed at a post of several companies, commanded by a field officer, he was himself commanding one of the companies, and at the same time acting Post Quartermaster and Commissary. He was a First Lieutenant at the time, hut his Captain was detached to other duty. As commander of the com: any,! he made a reouisition upon the, Quartermaster thimselfi for something he wanted. jAs Quartermaster ha declined to fill the requisition, and indorsed on the back of it his reason for so doing. As conn any commander he responded to this, urging that his requisition called for nothing but what he was entitled to, and t hat it was the dv-ty of the Quartermaster to fill it. The Quartermaster still persisted that he was right. In this condition of affairs Bragg referred the whole matter to the commanding officer. The latter, when he snw the nature of the matter referred,exclaimed: ‘My God, Mr. Bragg, yon have quarreled with every officer in the army, and now you are quarreling with yourself!’ Lcugstreet was an entirely different man." ' -

METHODIST EPISCOPAL VISITATION.

Plan for the Fall Conferences Adopted by the'Board of Bishops at St. Louis. Conference. Place. Date. Bishop. Utah Mis... .Park City.Utah..July 2... Warren. MontanaMiADillbn,M.T.... July 9.. Walden. ColumbiaßivSpok’eFallsW.T.July 16. .Walden. Idaho . ..Y ..CanyonCity.Ore.July 30. .Walden. Puget found. Taacoma.W T.. Aug. 13.. Walden. Colorado ....Pueblo, Col .. ..Aug. 20... Andrews Bl’kHillsMisßapids City^D-TAug.2o.. Ninde. Nevada Mis. Bishop’s Cr.,Nev.Aug. 20. .Fowler. Indiana Spencer, Ind Aug. 27. .Harris. 0reg0n..... .Roseburg, Ore.. .Aug. 27. .Walden. -• JapanTokia, Japan.... Aug. 27.. — NWSwedisbDayton, lowa....Sept. 3.. Bowman. Cincinnati.. Cincinnati, Ohio. Sept. 3. .Harris. N. 0hi0.... .Berea, Ohio Sept. 3.. Merrill. N. Nebraska.Ponca, Neb Sept. 3.. Andrews. N.W.lndianaValparaiso,lnd;rSSptr 3. .Foss. W.German. .Claytonia.N'eb.. .Sept. 3. .Ninde. California... Stockton, Ca 1.... Sept. 3. -Fowler. Norwegian & . Danish... .Cambridge, Wis..Sept.lo. .Bowman. CenGerman.Columbus, Ohio.Sept.lo. .Harris. Erie.. Sharon, Pa..... ..Sopt.lo..Merrill W.Neb.Mis.. Kearney, Neb... .Sept. 10. .Andrews. Si. Louis Ger,St. Louis, Mo.; Sept. 10. .Foss. lowaMt. Pleasant, la. Sept. 10..Ninde. S. California. Santa Barbara.. Sept, 10.. Fowler. Chicago Ger. Manitowoc, Wis. Sept. 17.. Bowman Cen. 0hi0... Fostoria, 0hi0... Sept. 17.. Harris. E. Ohioßarnesville, 0.. Sept. 17. .Foster. Pittsburgh ..Allegheny City.,Sept. 17.. Merrill. Nebraska.... Seward, Neb.... Sept, 17.. Andrews Michigan....Gd.Rap., Mich.. Sept. 17.. Warren. Des Moines..DesMoines, la.. Sept. 17..F0b5. Tllinoisßushville, Ill:...Sept. 17. .Ninde. N. Dak. Mis.Wahpeton, D.T..Sept. 17.. Walden. Arizona Mia..Tuckson, Ariz’a. Sept. 17.. Fowler. W. Wiscon’n.Dodgeville, Wis. Sept. 24..80wman S.E. Indiana.Brookville, Ind. .Sept. 24. .Harris. Ohio Delaware, 0...,. Sept. 24.. Foster. W. Virginia..Charleston,W.VaSept. 24.. Merrill. N.W.Gernl’nLe Seuer, Minn.. Sept. 24.. Andrews Cen. Illinois.Fairbury, 111 ...Sept, 24.. Warren. N. W. lowa. .Storm Lake, la.. Sept, 24..F05b. S. Illinois....Edwardsville,lllSept. 24..Ninde, N.M.Mis (S.).Peralta, N. M... .Sept. 24. .Fowler. N.ChlnaMis.Pekin, Ciiina... .Sept. 24.. Wisconsin... Waukesha, Wis. Oct. 1.. Bowman. Kentucky.... Covington, Ky.. Oct. 1. .Harris. Minnesota.. .Rochester, Minn Oct. I. - Andrews Upper lowa.Toledo, lowa.;v;Oct. 1.. Warren. GeneseeLima, N.YOct. 1.. Hurst. Bine Ridge.. Gastonia, N. C.. Oct. 1.. Mallalieu N, Mex. Mis. Santa Fe, N. M. .Oct. 1. .Fowler. Bulgariaßustchuk, Bui...Oct. 1 ——- Cen. N. York. Syracuse, N. Y.. Oct. 8. .Merrill. Dakota, Mis. Blunt, D. T.Oct. 8.. Foss. Rock River.. Eight, 111..0ct. 8.. Fowler. Holston ..... JohnsonC’y.Ten.Oct. 15. .Hurst. Cen. Tenn.. Tullahoma,Tenn.Oct. 15.. Mallalieu Cen.ClhinaM.Kiuk’ang, China. Oct. 15.. E.Tetinessce.Knoxville, Tenn. Oct. 22.. Hurst. Tennessee,.. Gallatin, Tenn.. Oct. 22. .Mallalieu S. German.. .SanAntonio.Tex.Nov. 19. .Foster. FoochowFoochow, China. Nov. 19..South India.. Bombay, India-Nov. 19.. —— Georgia Ellijay, Ga..... .Nov. 19. .Mallalien Texas Houston, Tex.. .Nov. 26. .Foster. Alabama Edwardsville....Nov. 26..Mallalieu West Texas. .Austin, Texas. ..Dec. 3\ .Foster. Savannah.... Savannah. Ga.. Dec. 3..Mallalien AustinDenton, Texas.. Dec. 10.. Foster. Cen. Ala Mobile, A1a.... Dec. 10..Mallalieu William M. Harris, Secretary.

A MOMENT WITH A METEOR.

Colored People in Texas Thought the Day of Judgment was at Hand. [Sherman (Texas) special ] A meteor of remarkable size was seen near midnight last night, moving in a southwesterly direction. The sky was brilliantly illuminated by it for several seconds. A moment after the meteor had disappeared a loud explosion, similar todhe discharge of heavy artillery, was heard, accompanied by a perceptible shock. This phenomenon was followed by a rambling like distant thunder. The meteor appeared to bo about the size of a flour barrel. It was also observed at McKinney, thirty-five miles distant, where a hissing sound was heard, greatly alarming some colored people who were returning from a prayer meeting and causing them to tike to flight, shouting that the day of judgmen t had come.

MURDERED BY APACHES.

Five More Victims Added to the Bloody List. [Tombstone (Arizona) dispatch.] C. T. Nightingale, just arrived from Macasoriand Sonora, Mexico, says: Three American miners—Fred Huntington, Peter McCurton, and Peter Palmer—were killed by Apaches at a mine May 27. The bodies of McCurton and Palmer were found in a dump box, shot through the head. Huntington’s body was found at the bottom of a shaft Two other men, whose names are unknown, Were killed by the Apaches on the Opoto trail about a week previous.

PRACTICALLY ABOLISHED.

Hazing at th® Annapolis Naval Academy. •< [Washington special. 1 Representative Thomas, of Illinois, who was one of the Board of Naval Visitors to Annapolis, has returned to the city. Mr. Thomas says hazing is practically abolished at the academy, and that the morale of that institution is better than at any previous period of its history.

ITEMS.

Why ought Lent, to pass very ‘rapidly? because there are so many fast days in it. The Paraellite tribute for Victor Hugo’s funeral was a gigantic shamrock crown. It is said of Secretary Whitney that ho is able to laugh without removing his spectacles. i A baby two months old and weighing only five pounds is the latest sensation at Los Angeles, Cal. A Cleveland Leader writer credits John McLean with being the richest man in Cincinnati; worth at least $6,000,000. We seldom find persons whom we acknowledge to be possessed of good sense, except those who ate with us in opinion. A gentleman who saw Mr. Bayard out riding the other night says he has grown fully ten years older since he went into the State Department Mrs. Ole BUll and family will probably retain possession for another year of “Elmwood,” Mr. LtweHi, house at Cambridge, which they' have occupied in his absence. , y“It is never too late to learn. ” Deacon Jabez McCa’d, of Lebanon, eighty-three years old, is just now acquiring his first practical knowedge of measles^ — Willimantic (Conn.) Journal.

GATH WRITES OF INDIANA.

The Influences Which Deter-* mined the Growth of the Hoosier State. Indianapolis in Many Respects a Peculiar City—The Old Town of Vincennes —The State’s Public Men. [Letter in Cincinnati Enqnirer.l It was the custom thirty years ago to allnde to the State of Indiana is if it were something between Arkansas and North Carolina. The pride of Virginians and Kentuckians, of Ohioans and Illinoisans found Tonsolation in reflecting upon these former three States as without the social basis of their own—the poor white commonwealths of the Union. As late as 1885 a history of Kentucky went outside of its scope and purpose to show that “a land company imported, in the seventeenth century, to the waters of Pimlico and Albemarle Sounds the worst, by far the worst, population of any brought to America, frbm whom have come the sand-hillers, crackers, dirt-eat-ers, red-necks, etc., of the South. The western march of this unhappy mongrel people,” Says the author, “passed south of Kentucky, and they then crossed the country from the Carolina coast to Central Arkansas and Southern Missouri.” 1Persons who have noted the social and political improvement of what were called the poor white States since the rebellion have also observed how necessary it has been lor more pretentious States which have fallen back in the race to keep alive these •■ancient and vague illusions. The history of Indiana illustrates the motto that “Honor and shame from no condition rise.” No State in the Union has come out stronger in biography, in the contrasts of type and character and in real monuments of towns, architectures, and convenience-, than Indiana since the beginning of the civil war. Within her borders were large ingredients fuom the slave States. And Southern Indiana for many years continued to import.and export slaves. into Indiana went a large Virg.nia and Kentucky element, but probably a larger Carolina element with occasional notable arrivals from Tennessee. The.e was also in Indiana a small but well-marked French element, not only at Vincennes and other spots in the South, but in the northeast, toward Canada and Detroit. Pennsylvania gave the first important Northern element to this State, and afterward Ohio began to send forward her second growth of citizens, and within the past twenty years there has been a qurious reflex wave of immigration to Indiana from the States to tpe west of her. of the land of Indiana was inferior, and therefore the larger tides of emigration, taking the water routes by the lakes and the Ohio, went past Indiana. They or their descendants have but recently discovered that in many cases they obtained worse land by going the further. Indiana has, therefore, grown beyond the expectations of her grandfathers. The census of 1880 portrayed her with abont two millions of inhabitants. This was an increase of abont one-third in twenty years, and of nearly a million cf inhabitants added in thirty years. Indiana is the sixth State in the American Union, next below Missouri, andnext above Massachusetts. This State had no general or spiritual incentive, like Ohio, Kansas, and some other Western Sta es. Be.ng closed to slavery by the organic law creating the Northwestern Territory, it did not attract wealthy people from the South, and as it haxl navigation inferior to other Western States, with their longer line: of lake and more general river systems, it furnished nojuurticular nucleus, such as Chicago, or ClevelandrdKSt. Louis for a great settlement. It was not colonized by Revolutionary soldiers, co-operating w ith their enterprising officers, as was the case with Ohio, in which it w/s originally containedThe growth.of Indiana was almost secondary: the large towns beyond its exterior furnished the newspapers v.hich were read by the people of the country, and. therefore, it had but few advertising advantages, the habit being to comment upon it as if it were some inoffensive -Egypt. The politics of Indiana was influenced by the rise and succession of the school of Gen. Jackson, whose warlike nature and humble beginnings greatly recommended him to the plain people there. The State had its own hero. Harrison, who came forward some years afterward and triumphed over Gen. Jackson's successor; but£hoPresident dying the scepter again de- , parted from the Moab of the West, and we heard but little of Indiana until the outbreak of the civil war. Two men then appeared of nearly equal force of character andriierce convictions— Jesse D. Bright and Oliver,P. Morton. A financier was also developed from the State banking system of Indiana in Hugh McCulloch; a quick and < arable Speaker ,of Congress and subsequent Vive President xVas Schuyler Colfax, a graceful, skillful and experienced advocate came also to the front in Thomas A. Hendricks. Indianapolis rose to be one of the most interesting cities in the West, although it had been created by an act of legislative will, and was without any particular advantages, except its centrality; This city has been said to be tbe largest city in the world, wholly remote from natural lines of communication: it is upon no river that pertains to commerce, and it has grown to be larger than Washington was at the commencement of the civil war, and has probably a stable population of nearly IOO.IXXJ. Other legislative centers in the West, like Columbus, St. Paul, and Denver, have taken root and flourished, but Indianapolis, above all other capital-', is probably the undisputed mistress of its State in cummunications, commerce, and

social influence. Indianapolis is the social capital of the more modern history of this State; further back we must seek in cities and. towns now partly forgotten tor the ruling spirits of the State. Among these towns are Madison, New Harmony, Vincennes, Connersville, Brookville, Richmond, and other places upon the Ohio, the White and the Wabash Rivers. An atlas of Indiana, published ■ as late as 1822, shows next to nothing in three-. quarters of the whole State; there were only two counties in middle Indiana, nor h of a point thirty m les from the Ohio River, and from that point the settlements ran along the eastern and western boundary, and gave the State the appearance of a stocking hung up at Christmas, with all the “goodies” along the sole and instep, and nothing in the leg. Indianapolis stood at the highest forks of the White River, with a long name and no neighbors. Vincennes, with an origin anterior to the American possession, had propagated a few wild counties, but most of the counties and villages of consideration were close to the Ohio River and "Ohio line. The city of Cincinnati had an effective influence upon peopling Indiana, through her communications, which were early established, and by reason of the rich limestone valleys and plains about the Miami River, which constitutes the boundary point between Indiana and Ohio. Louisville, which became a place of wealth ana consideration later than Cincinnati, a'so had an influence in the settling of this State, but perhaps the greatest of all influences was the railroad extension through Indiana only a few weeks previous to the great rebellion. Until steam highways were put down in a State whoite rivers ran the wrong way, or toward the West instead of the East, there was , no general understanding or settlement of the ' Indian commonwealth. It was called Indiana because it was the great Indian land. The population in 1820 was less than 150,000 people, and Delaware- County, which had Indianapolis for its center, and comprised, probably, oneeighth of the whole State, had hardly 3,500 people. The Wabash River is to Indiana like a sash tier! around a man's body from left to right, and though it is SW) miles long, its part in the settlement of the State has be n greater as a drain and fountain than ts a highway. Indiana had no such comprehensive railroad as the Illinois Central to act as a great forked tree in the State, and fill it with boughs and twigs of population. The Nat ion al. .Road, which the Government built far into Ohio, Was taken un and carried along subsequently, but not in time to be of much benefit to a newcommunitv, with the railroad spirit coming so swiftly onward in the rear. In J 826 the Governor said in his message: “We must strike at the internal improvement of the Stare, or form our minds to remain poor and unacquainted with each other." No road was begun from Lake Michigan through Indiana; oils to Madison on the Ohio until 4830. Two years later a canal was opened from the Wabash to I.ake Erie The panic of .1837 came when Indiana had just launched a comprehensive system of canals. Until - about thirteen years before the great civil war the State was unable to pay the interest on her internal improvement debt The firs? railroad in the State was from Madison to irdianapolis, and it was opened in 1847; this road was meant to be the chief inlet to the State from the region of Cincinnati and the Ohio River. In 1853 a railroad was opened from India- apolis to Louisville. The Fort Wayne and Cheago Railroad in Ohio a good while, and was not opiened through to Chicago until 1858. The Ohio and Missis-ippl Railroa l, through Southern Indiana, was not op ned until the brink, of the rebellion; by. 1857 it was running to Vincennes, but was n t jeady for traffic to’.St. Louis until ■lß6ti. The Northern Indiana Railroad, connect ng the Lake Shore with Chicago, w “ only opened in 1852. Indiana ha-1 in Ixßo n ore.’h n 4.;:oo miles of railroad, and since that lime her mileage has increased. The con eqnenc:- has been the springing up cf new towns in • veiy.. portion of the State, and, perhap-s, rao-e than any State in the Union, Indiana has been creaicd and peopled by i.er railroads.

Indianapolis ftaelf was only laid out in 181, and the public offices were not established there until 1825. and .the State House, rec ntly destroyed, was n<?t opened until 18»4, when It cost ♦60,060. The present county Conrt House of Indianapolis cost ♦1.500,000, rises eighty-one feet irom the ground, is three stories high, and is 275 feet lorg, and its tow.r Is 200 feet high. The great Union Depot in that cityj which is abont to be built upin a scale corresion ting to its continental uses, will be one of the chief human centers in the West ■, . To comprehend the origin of Indiana one must go to the old city of Vincennes, which is said to have been founded as early as 1710, on the Wabash River, some seventy-five miles from its month. Until 1813 this post, fort, and town was the capital cf Indiana There can still be seen the Executive mansion of the first Governor, William Henry Harrison. It is narrated that in tbe yard of this house, which stands upon the sloping river bank, Tecumseh, the celebrated Indian organizer, had resolved to kljl Harrison' by assassination, in the midst of acouncil which was,held there. The city occupies a healthful plain, adapted to frnit, and many of the houses retain the-0)d French appearance; mahy qf the people not only look like Frenchmen of either pure or mixed blood, but they speak the French language, and French immigrants have settled at Vincennes within our own time. The old cathedral In the place, with its graveyard and conventual surroundings, is worth a visit. It is said , that M. de Vincennes, who gave qpme to this place, was killed by the Chickasaw Indiana His wfe could only make her mark, though she was a daughter of the wealthiest citizen of Kaskaskia, which was the French emporium or the Upper Mississippi. Vincennes is older than Savannah, and of the age of Trenton, N. J., and, if its <1 te lie correctly stated, it is eight years older than New Orleans. It had been in the English occupation about sixteen years when the Kentuckians occupied it, in 1779, under Gen. George Rogers Clark, whom many consider the true founder of Kentucky. Nearly five years afterward the Northwestern Territory was presented by Virginia to the United States, and Gen. Harmar and Gen. St. Clair both visited Vincennes, wh'ch was visited by distinguished foreigners. Volney, the traveler, wrote an account of it, and in its vicinity was established a notable English settlement in Illinois by Burbeck and Flower, both autnors and men of intrei id moral courage. Gen. Harrison, though historically assigned to the State or Ohio, began his more public life in Indiana. In Ohio he had been the territor.al subordinate of Gov. St. Clair, In Indiana he was himself the Governor at Hie early age of twenty-seven; the youngest son of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence: he fought,against the Indians in tho West under Schuyler and Wayne, and won a captaincy: and he commanded Cincinnati when it was a frontier fort. Identifying himself with the new West by marriage and property interests, he wes sent to Congress as a delegate. His father-in-law, Mr. Symmes, of New Jersey, cxf.n T r ill 1p f 1 n. million of InnH on a tinw on the little Miami River, and finally had patented to him near 312,000 acres, upon which stands Cincinnati and the most populous portions of Ohio and Indiana. Harrison lived at Vincennes about twelve years, and when we became a second time engaged in wax with England, he was made a Brigadier General; and at the close of that war was returned to Congress frbm Ohio. The remainder of his life, about twenty-seven years, was spent rnOhio, but very close to the Indiana line. —— Harrison was not only the first Governor of Indiana, but he was the chief warrior of the State, and tbe battle of Tippecanoe, which he fought at Tecumseh's own settlement, became a political battle cry, which carried him into the Presidency. Indiana cast her electoral vote twice for Harrison for President—in 1836 and in 1840. Of the Indiana electors in 1840 one, Caleb B. Smith, lived to he in the Cabinet of Abraham Lincoln, and another, Richard W. Thompson, was in the Cabnet of President Hayes.

State Items. U —John J. Johnson, Deputy Recorder of Muncie, committed suicide with a revolver. —The Grand Jury of Dearborn County returned sixty indictments last week for the unlawful sale of liquor. —There will be considerable building in Lafayette and the vicinity this summer of houses principally of the better class. —Frederick GrotegUth, who killed his wife at Vincennes June 4, has confessed.. He quarreled with his wife and cut het throat with a razor. —Professor Borden is arranging for the dedication of Borden Institute, at Newi Providence, on July 4. Hon. Will Cum-J back will deliver the address. William Doliver Was declared notguilty; by a jury at Winnamac. He was tried foil the murder of Zack Letterman, committed at Medaryville, last February. —lt is said that $2,000 will place the Floyd County Jail in perfectly safe anc| first-class condition, and make separate) apartments for male and female prisoners. —The directors of the Northern Indiana penitentiary have made a contract for a large stoneworkshop, in which 300 convicts will be worked by the Amazon Hosiery Company of Chicago. —Eloping couples . from Kentucky are unusually numerous for the season, and justices of Jeffersonville and New Albany are kept busy marrying from whom they receive liberal fees. —A SIO,OOO suit at Muncie turns on the legality of a mortgage, it being alleged that the seal used by the notary who took the acknowledgment was not his own seal, but one borrowed from another notary. —The colored population of Plainfield expect a rare treat in a short time; Henry Dunbar, a colored man at that place, avers that oil several occasions he has eaten four dozen hens’ eggs at a meal, and proposes to beat this record at a public exhibition to take place at Guilford Hall or the base-ball park. ’ • —J. D. McLaren, a leading attorney of Plymouth, has been retained by the Whaleys of Marshall County to prosecute their claims to the estate of James Whaley, deceased, who died without issue in Dutchess County. New York. The estate is valued at $1,000,000. The Whaleys of Marshal County are directly, related, and they are certain of getting a portion of this large estate. -

—Within the last three nights no less than six burglaries have been committed in this city (says a Wabash telegram), and though the aggregate amount of money and property obtained will not exceed $25, a reign of terror of a mild type has been inaugurated. The crooks are believed to be women—members of a band of gypsies which has been loitering about this vicinity for several weeks. —Stucker Rogers and Edward Rogers, aged respectively twelve and thirteen years, are in jail at Bloomington, charged with placing obstructions on the track of the Louisville, New Albany and Chicago Railway. It is alleged that the boys got acme old ties and stones and placed them on the track at a curve between Gosport and Stinesville. A freight train, drawn by engine No. 23, collided with the obstruction, and the engine was thrown from the track and blew out a cylinder head. The boys are grandsons of the proprietor of the Rogers House at Gosport, and have been canghi in many scrapes. Some time ago, if is c barged, they set fire to two barns at Gosport.*

REMINISCENCES OF PUBLIC MEN.

BT BEN : FKRLKY POORS. It M. T. Hunter, once nicknamed “liua Mad Tom' Hunter,” controlled the national finances during the administrations of Pierce and Buchanan, aa chairman of tbe Senate Committee on finance. He had entered the House of Representatives during the Broad Seal controversy, caused by the appearance of a j New Jersey delegation Tearing certificates of their election under the State seal, while a Democratic delegation claimed to have received a large majority of the popular vote. After the contest Mr. Hunter was elected Speaker by a coalition l»etween some conservative Democrats and Whigs, and a few years later he was elected Senator by a coalition between the conservative Democrats and Whigs of Virginia. Industrious and faithful, no shadow of suspicion as to the absolute integrity of his motives ever clouded his reputation. He was rather heavily built, with'features betraying his- descent from Pocahontas, a ck-an-shaved face, a broad forehead, large, dark eyes, a profusion of long, black hair, and pleasing manners. As secession apE reached there was some antagonism etween Hunter and Wise. After the war he served, I think, as State Treasurer of Virginia, and became reduced in circumstances. Zack Chandler, of Michigan, and William Pitt Fessenden, of Maine, had no especial love for each other, and the former used occasionally to rebel against the rule of the latter in the Senate. One day the following personal conversation occurred in a debate: » Mr. Chandler—“ The Senator from Maine dwells largely upon practical business knowledge, and he seems to sneer at practical business knowledge. I tell the Senator that if ho had a little more of it on 1 his committee, it would be better for his committee.” Mr. Fessenden—“Undoubtedly. I agree to that. We made a great mistake in not having the Senator from Michigan upon it; but we got along very well, notwithstanding.” Mr. Chandler—“l have nothing to say about that The Senator from Michigan can stand upon his own merits.” Mr. Fessenden—“l believe he is the only Senator who boasts of having a practical knowledge every time he addresses the Senate.” 1 “Mr. Chandler—“ The Senator from Maine has lectured this body about enough, not only on practical knowledge, but about its business and general conduct For my part, I have got about enough of his lecturing, and will thank him to lecture somebody else next time.”

John Wilkes Booth was, when he committed his great crime, 27 years of age. He had played stock parts at Washington and other Southern and Western cities, where he had given unmistakable evidence of genuine dramatic talent. He had, added to his native genius, the advantage of a voice musically full and rich; a face almost classic in outline; features highly intellectual; a piercing, black eye, capable of expressing the fiercest and the tenderest passion and emotion, and a commanding figure and impressive stage address. In his transitions from the cjuiet and reflective passages of a part to the fierce and violent outbreaks of passion, his sudden and impetuous manner had in it something of that electrical force and power which made ,the elder Booth so celebrated, and called up afresh to the memory of men of the last generation the presence, voice, and manner of his father. Convivial inhis habits, sprightly and genial in conversation, John Wilkes made many friends among the young men of his own age, and he was a favorite among the ladies at the National Hotel, where he boarded. His features in repose had rather a sombre and melancholy cast, yet, under agreeable influences or emotions, the expression was very animated and glowing. His hair, jet black and glossy, curled slightly, and set off in fine relief a high,’ intellectual forehead and a face full of intelligence. Beth chin and nose were markedly prominent, and ,the firm-set lips and lines about the mouth indicated firmness of will, decision, and resolution. He was scrupulously neat in his dress, and selected his habits with a rare perception of‘what was becoming to his figure and complexion. He would pass anywhere for a neatly but not over-dressed man of fashion. Of his political views very little was known. Being of Southern birth and education, it was presumed his sympathies tended in that direction; but he exhibited no particular warmth or zeal for the liebellion, and nothing to indicate the remotest desire to further the cause by so much as giving it pecuniary aid, much less personal assistance. It was reported Ly a gentleman who heard the conversation, that during his engagement in Louisville in 1862, Booth fell into a controversy with the treasurer of the theater—a rabid secessionist —while standing one morning,in the box-office. He remarked, in effect, that he was a Southern man, and liked the people of the South, who had been kind to him, but he could not, for all that, admit that they had any right or occasion to secede; that they had it all their own way in Congress, and that if they insisted on fighting, they should have taken the American flag and fought under that.

There’s Nothing New.

The dental processes familiar to us are not so new as may be supposed. In the museum of Corneto, on the coast of Italy, are two curious specimens of artificial teeth found imEtruscan tombs probably dating' 400 or 500 years before our era. The teeth were evidently taken from the month of some animal, and had been carefully cut and fastened to neighboring natural teeth of two young girls by means of small gold rings. The dentist’s art was also applied to treating natural teeth in various ways, but the fact has hitherto escaped notice on account of the rarity of Etruscan skeletons. Ax old friend is not always the person whom it is easiest to make a confidant of; there is the barrier. of remembered communications under other circumstances. — George Eliot. ’' ;