GRANT’S FAITHFUL FRIEND
General Grant’s faithful friend, his chief of staff, the Galena lawyer, John A. Rawlins . . . was closer to Grant than any other during the war. It was to Rawlins that Grant gave his pledge that he would abstain from intoxicating liquors. When he broke that pledge Rawlins went to him and with great earnestness pleaded with him, for the sake of himself, and for the sake of the great and holy cause of the nation, to refrain from strong drink. Faithful were the wounds of that friend. In front of the Capitol at Washington today there stands the magnificent monument of General Grant, sitting on his horse in characteristic pose and flanked on either side by stirring battle scenes. But at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, a little to the south of the avenue, is Rawlins Park, where there stands a very ordinary, commonplace statue of Rawlins. Whenever I stand before the great monument of Grant on his…
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