him in his duties. In the midst of all this hopeless confusion,
however, someone suggested that a man by the name of Grant, who had
come down with the Galena Company, had been in the army and ought
to know about such things. The Governor accordingly sought out
"the man from Galena" just as he was starting for his home, with
the result that he was soon at a desk in the adjutant's office,
filling out the necessary papers at three dollars a day, while the
brand new captains, colonels and generals posed in the foreground
to the tune of popular applause.

From this time forward order gradually took the place of chaos and
the political generals and comic-opera soldiers were slowly shifted
from the scene. But scarcely anyone noticed the silent man, hard
at work in his shirt sleeves in a corner of the adjutant's room, and
such inquiries as were made concerning him elicited the information
that he was a cast-off of the regular army, with a dubious reputation
for sobriety, who had been hired as a clerk. But the Governor
of Illinois was an intelligent man, and he was well aware of the
service which the ex-Captain of regulars was performing for the
State, and on the completion of his work in the adjutant's office
Grant was given a nominal title and assigned to visit the various
regiments at their encampments to see that they were properly
mustered in. He, accordingly, straightway set to work at this
task, and his brisk, business-like manner of handling it made an
impression upon those with whom he came in contact, for one of the
temporary camps became known as Camp Grant.

Meanwhile, seeing his duties coming to an end without much
hope of further employment, he wrote the following letter to the
Adjutant-General of the United States Army at Washington: