Grant, Lincoln and the Freedmen

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. My wish in the first place is to give a faithful picture of the great President and the great General who guided us through the most tragic period of our National life. I do not pretend to write in any general sense of the military career Of Grant or the political life of Lincoln, but only of those incidents in connection with which I came into per sonal contact with these two men, and, above all, Of the character and standards Of each as I saw them. One of the strongest safeguards to American life is devotion to our heroes and reverence for the ideals to which they pledged themselves. Grant and Lincoln were pre-eminent among those who sacrificed the personal to the National life, and we can never look too closely to the examples which they prepared for us.