Grant in peace.
Chapter 1:
Introductory-relations of the writer with General Grant.
General Grant did his country quite as indispensable and efficient service during the years immediately after the Civil War as in the field; a service often unknown to the world, or to more than a very few of the actors, or nearest observers of the time. I propose to tell the story of the part of which I was a personal witness, or in regard to which I can bear peculiar testimony. I shall treat his relations with the most prominent persons of the epoch, setting forth his opinions of them and his feelings toward them, and lift the veil from events of importance to history, or to the understanding of Grant's character and influence. I propose also to make known some of the circumstances of his Presidency and later career which have not hitherto been disclosed.General Grant always knew that I contemplated writing his political history, and approved the intention. He promised me all the assistance he could give in its preparation, and refused his sanction to others who proposed a similar task. During his last illness, when it became certain that his military memoir would be widely read, I urged him to attempt himself a political volume, and he consented to do so if I would aid him. The chapters I now offer will include material that would have formed part of such a memoir, whether it had been written by himself or had remained my work, supervised and corrected by General Grant. To this
