- Joined
- Jul 9, 2005
- Location
- Galena, Illinois 61036 U.S.A.
Ulysses Grant was not known as an "eloquent" speaker, indeed he was by some regarded as a man of few words.
I had not been aware of what follows here, but found it in Joan Waugh's U. S. Grant.
I think it is appropriate to Veterans Day.
While on his "World Tour", in Hamburg, Germany on July 4, 1878, Grant responded to his host's remark that Grant "had saved the country during the recent war.":
"I share with you all the pleasure and gratitude which Americans should feel on this anniversary. But I must dissent from one remark to the effect that I saved the country during the war.
If our country could be saved or ruined by the efforts of any one man, we should not have a country, and we should not be now celebrating our Fourth of July. There are many men who would have done far better than I did under the circumstances in which I found myself during the war.
If I had never held command; if I had fallen; if all our generals had fallen, there were ten thousand behind us who would have done our work just as well, who would have followed the contest to the end and never surrendered the Union.
Therefore, it is a mistake and a reflection upon the people to attribute to me, or to any number of us who held high commands, the salvation of the Union. We did our work as well as we could, and so did hundreds of thousands of others. We deserve no credit for it, for we should have been unworthy of our country and of the American name if we had not made every sacrifice to save the Union.
What saved the Union was the coming forward of the young men of the nation. They came from their homes and fields, as they did in time of the Revolution, giving
everything to the country. To their devotion we owe the salvation of the Union.
The humblest soldier who carried a musket is entitled to as much credit for the results of the war as those who were in command. So long as our young men are
animated by this spirit there will be no fear for the Union."
To me, that's "eloquent".
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I had not been aware of what follows here, but found it in Joan Waugh's U. S. Grant.
I think it is appropriate to Veterans Day.
While on his "World Tour", in Hamburg, Germany on July 4, 1878, Grant responded to his host's remark that Grant "had saved the country during the recent war.":
"I share with you all the pleasure and gratitude which Americans should feel on this anniversary. But I must dissent from one remark to the effect that I saved the country during the war.
If our country could be saved or ruined by the efforts of any one man, we should not have a country, and we should not be now celebrating our Fourth of July. There are many men who would have done far better than I did under the circumstances in which I found myself during the war.
If I had never held command; if I had fallen; if all our generals had fallen, there were ten thousand behind us who would have done our work just as well, who would have followed the contest to the end and never surrendered the Union.
Therefore, it is a mistake and a reflection upon the people to attribute to me, or to any number of us who held high commands, the salvation of the Union. We did our work as well as we could, and so did hundreds of thousands of others. We deserve no credit for it, for we should have been unworthy of our country and of the American name if we had not made every sacrifice to save the Union.
What saved the Union was the coming forward of the young men of the nation. They came from their homes and fields, as they did in time of the Revolution, giving
everything to the country. To their devotion we owe the salvation of the Union.
The humblest soldier who carried a musket is entitled to as much credit for the results of the war as those who were in command. So long as our young men are
animated by this spirit there will be no fear for the Union."
To me, that's "eloquent".
--