Saturday, January 02, 2010

Ulysses S. Grant Goes Undercover


I came across the following anecdote while searching for information about the Union military hospital at Point of Rocks, located along the Appomattox River near City Point, Virginia, where Maj. Gen. U.S. Grant (pictured right) established his headquarters during the Siege of Petersburg in 1864-1865.

The story appears on pages 213-214 of Under the Guns: A Woman's Reminiscences of the Civil War by Annie Wittenmyer (1827-1900), who served as a nurse during the war. She writes that the most notable feature of the Point of Rocks hospital was its kitchens and the high-quality, seemingly home-cooked meals that came from them. She adds that their fame quickly spread along the lines, and attracted a great number of surgeons to learn if the reports were true. "To many it seemed incredible that the cooking for the very sick could be so well managed right along the front lines." Bolstered by the positive feedback, she took it upon herself to extend an invitation to the top army commander:
At my request, General Grant, commanding the United States forces with headquarters at City Point, visited these famous kitchens.

Himself and two of his staff went in disguise.

With his slouch hat drawn down, and coming in citizen's clothing, no one noticed him. They stood by the door of the largest kitchen, while the dinner was issued. He asked, when the food had been sent out, a few questions and looked at the bill of fare, then followed to the wards to see the patients receive it.

He said, when I next came down from Washington and called at headquarters, that he thought it was the most wonderful thing he had ever seen. He was unusually enthusiastic.

"Why," said he, "those men live better than I do; and so many of them too. How they manage to cook such a variety for so many hundreds is what puzzles me."

The he told me about his going through the wards while they were taking their dinner, and noticing how greatly they enjoyed the food. And when told THAT THE MOST OF THIS FOOD CAME FROM THE COMMUTATION OF GOVERNMENT RATIONS, he was still more surprised.

When he was passing through one of the wards, a convalescing soldier, taking him to be a delegate of the Christian Commission, called out, "Say, Christian, won't you bring me a pair of socks?"

"I'll see that you get a pair," the general responded, and passed out; but he arranged to have the man get a pair of socks.

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