Lincoln, the unknown

178 • LINCOLN THE UNKNOWNthe Great, he spent much of his time at West Point poring overnovels such as "Ivanhoe" and "The Last of the Mohicans."The incredible fact is that he never read a book on militarystrategy in his life.After he had won the war the people of Boston raised moneyto buy him a library, appointing a committee to find out whatbooks he already possessed. To its amazement, the committeelearned that Grant didn't own a single military treatise of anydescription.He disliked West Point and the army and everything connectedwith it; and, after he had become world-famous, he saidto Bismarck while reviewing Germany's troops:"I haven't much interest in military affairs. The truth is, I ammore of a farmer than a soldier. Although I have been in twowars, I never entered the army without regret, and never left itwithout pleasure."Grant admitted that his besetting sin was laziness, and thathe never liked to study. Even after he graduated from WestPoint he spelled knocked without the initial k and safety withoutan e; yet he was fairly good at figures, and hoped to be a professorof mathematics. But no position was available, so hespent eleven years with the regular army. He had to have somethingto eat, and that seemed the easiest way to get it.In 1853 he was stationed at Fort Humboldt in California.In a near-by village there was a curious character named Ryan.Ryan ran a store, operated a sawmill, and did surveying duringthe week. On Sunday he preached. Whisky was cheap in thosedays, and Pastor Ryan kept an open barrel of it in the backof his store. A tin cup was hanging on the barrel, so you couldgo and help yourself whenever you had the urge. Grant had itoften. He was lonely and wanted to forget the army life thathe despised; as a result he got drunk so many times that hehad virtually to be dismissed from the army.He didn't have a dollar, and he didn't have a job; so hedrifted back east to Missouri and spent the next four yearsplowing corn and slopping hogs on an eighty-acre farm belongingto his father-in-law. In the wintertime he cut cord-wood,hauled it to St. Louis, and sold it to the city people. But everyyear he got farther and farther behind, had to borrow more andmore.Finally he quit the farm, moved to St. Louis, and soughtemployment there. He tried to sell real estate, was a total fail-