Lives of the Presidents Told in Words of One SyllableRemy, Jean S.
History
Lives of the Presidents Told in Words of One Syllable
Remy, Jean S.
Presidents -- United States -- Biography
his big plans were all made when his ci-gar was in his mouth. In 1863,
Grant won a great fight at Chat-ta-noo-ga; and in the fierce fight in
the Wil-der-ness, he and Gen-er-al Lee met for the first time.
Grant's next great work was to seize Pe-ters-burg; and so he laid siege
to the town; he dug a huge mine in front of the doomed cit-y, and filled
it full of pow-der that would go off when fired with a match; when this
great charge went off, the fort was blown to small bits, and heaps of
dead and dy-ing men lay in the midst of the ru-in; but the brave men of
the South still held the fort, and drove back the troops from the North
as they rushed up; and so well did they fight that Grant and his men had
to draw back, and leave Pe-ters-burg a-lone for some time.
The next time he tried to take the town though, Gen-er-al Lee, who was
in charge, was forced to yield; and soon the red, white and blue waved
o-ver the South-ern cit-y. Soon af-ter this, Grant took from Lee all the
troops in his charge; and it was now plain to see that the war must
soon end.
You read in the life of Lin-coln, of the terms of peace which Grant gave
to the great chief of the South; and it seems that these two men, Grant
and Lee, had no hard thoughts for each other; for when peace was made,
they shook hands, and part-ed friends. Each had done his best in the
cause he thought right. Grant's trip to the North when the war was at
an end was a grand one; crowds rushed to see the man who had saved the
Union, and cheers and shouts rang to the skies. He was, of course, named
for pres-i-dent and a great vote put him in of-fice.
He was in the pres-ident's seat for two terms; and was the on-ly man
since Wash-ing-ton, who was thought of for a third term; but this the
whole land said no to; as no man should be pres-i-dent longer than
Wash-ing-ton had been. In Grant's last term, a big fair was held in
Phil-a-del-phi-a, called the "Cen-ten-ni-al;" to keep in mind this was
the great day on which this land was made free. At the end of Grant's
two terms, he took a tour of the world; and all lands made much of the
sol-dier pres-i-dent; rich gifts were placed in his hands; and at the
courts of the old world, kings and queens were glad to have this plain
qui-et man as a guest.
His last home was in New York; and here, in 1884, he fell sick; he lost
much mon-ey at this time, and was, in truth, a poor man. But he was, to
the last, a brave man; and in the midst of much pain, he wrote the book
of his life, that when he was dead his wife should have mon-ey from its
sale.
He died after eight long months of great pain, at Mt. Mc-Greg-or, near
Sar-a-to-ga, on July 23d, 1885; his bod-y lay in state in New York for
some days, and crowds from far and near came to view this great man for
the last time.
He was laid to rest Au-gust 8th, 1885, at Riv-er-side Park, New York
Cit-y; and the white mar-ble tomb that marks this spot is a gift to the
great dead, from the land he served so well.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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