That was my
first look at Grant, and look at him now!"
But in all likelihood there would not have been another chance to
"look" at him, had not the great Civil War broken out. It was to prove
in his case that what seemed failure was merely lack of opportunity.
When South Carolina seceded and the call for troops came, the
stoop-shouldered clerk in the hide store began to straighten up. The
call to arms put new life in his blood. He felt his old confidence
returning. He refused a local captaincy, after he had demonstrated
what he could do in drilling recruits, saying: "I have been in the
military service fourteen years, and think I am competent to command a
regiment."
He went to Springfield, Illinois, and offered his services, and after
some delay was given a desk in the adjutant-general's office. It was
not long before he proved his efficiency, and his advice was sought
more and more by the Governor, in organizing the State Guards. When
the 21st regiment was mustered into service, he was made its colonel.
He had put his foot on the first rung of the ladder of success.
The 21st, like other bodies of volunteers, was a loosely-knit, unruly
set of men. They took military life as a huge picnic, but speedily got
over that attitude--under Grant. On their first long hike, it is said
that their canteens were filled with whiskey, instead of water--until
Grant went through on a personal tour of inspection, and ordered every
canteen emptied out on the ground.
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