William A. Crafts, Life of Ulysses S. Grant: His Boyhood, Campaigns, and Services, Military and Civil.

The honors bestowed upon Grant were borne with a modesty equalled only by his ability and the greatness of his achievements. They came without his seeking; they were accepted with a determination to be worthy of them. Making a private and unofficial tour to the east and west with his family in 1865, he was made aware of the gratitude and admiration of the people. He was everywhere received with the most enthusiastic demonstrations which his private mode of travelling permitted. But everywhere he was the same quiet, unostentatious, unpretending soldier that he had been when he first entered the service as colonel in 1861, ever ready to give a hearty greeting to his comrades of the army, and with republican simplicity courteous to all. His few speeches, in response to the popular demands, were brief and modest. But the people could see that with all his modesty he was self-reliant, clear-headed, brave, and firm in the discharge of his duties.

While awarding the highest meed of praise to General Grant, the country should never forget the able subordinates and the brave men to whom, with the chivalrous spirit of a true soldier, he had always attributed his successes. He assumed no Napoleonic airs, and made to them no grandiloquent and flattering speeches, but in all his reports and despatches he acknowledged