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Chapter 19:
Cabinet-making.
on the 4th of March
Grant refused the company of the outgoing
President on his way to the
Capitol, and
Johnson remained at the
White House signing his last papers, until noon. Then he made room for the man whom he doubtless detested more than any other, who had done more than any other to foil his plans and thwart his wishes, and who now was to supplant him and demolish whatever of a policy
Johnson had been able to establish by obstinacy or circumstance or craft.
At the
Capitol another of
Grant's rivals,
Chief-Justice Chase, administered the oath of that office which he had himself so earnestly hoped and striven to attain.
And thus the highest honor that any American can obtain was added to the military glories already heaped on
Grant.
He was very reserved and even restrained, colder in manner than ever before, and evidently felt the gravity of his position, the full dignity of his office.
I had never seen him so impressed but once before.
In the first day's battle in the
Wilderness he was almost stern at times, and wore his gloves and sword; both were unusual circumstances with him and they seemed to me to indicate his sense of the novel and increased responsibilities, for that was his first battle as
General-in-Chief of the armies.
On this first day of his Presidency there were no trappings of office to assume, but he bore himself with a distant and almost frigid demeanor that marked how much he felt he was
