Ulysses Simpson Grant

Among the autobiographies of great military leaders, Ulysses S. Grant's is certainly one of the finest. From his frontier boyhood to his heroics in battle to the grinding poverty from which the Civil War rescued him, these memoirs are a deeply moving account of a brilliant man.

Personal Memoirs

Library of America

Abraham Baldwin Professor of the Humanities William S McFeely, PH D

Letters from Grant to his wife, fellow officers, and government officials accompany his account of his life as a soldier, from West Point to the end of the Civil War

Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, Selected Letters 1839-1865

Memoirs and Selected Letters

Faced with cancer and financial ruin, the Civil War's greatest general and former president, Ulysses S. Grant wrote his personal memoirs to secure his family's future. In doing so he won himself a unique place in American letters. Acclaimed by writers as diverse as Mark Twain and Gertrude Stein, Grant's memoirs demonstrate the intelligence, intense determination, and laconic modesty that made him the Union's foremost commander. PERSONAL MEMOIRS is devoted almost entirely to his life as a soldier. For their directness and clarity, his writings on war are without rival in American Literature.

Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant

Intelligent, deeply moving account of Civil War campaigns, one of finest military memoirs ever written. Includes letters, photographs, maps, more.

On May 10, 1876, Ulysses S. Grant pulled a lever to start the mighty 1,400-horsepower Corliss Steam Engine, powering acres of machinery for the nation's Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. Grant summed up a century of American progress by saying, "Whilst proud of what we have done, we regret that we have not done more. Our achievements have been great enough however to make it easy for our people to acknowledge superior merit wheresoever found." That summer, Fourth of July celebrations coincided with early reports that Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer and his Seventh Cavalry had been wiped out by Sioux. Grant resisted the subsequent clamor for volunteers to crush the Sioux, but his peace policy lay in shambles, and he later criticized Custer's unnecessary "sacrifice of troops." Soldiers sent to subdue Indians meant fewer available to help ensure a fair election in November. Grant's correspondents described a pattern of physical and economic intimidation throughout the South, as Democrats sought to keep blacks from the polls. After whites massacred black militia in South Carolina, Grant warned that unchecked persecution would lead to "bloody revolution." As violence spread, Grant struggled to position limited forces where they could do the most good. Scandals diverted Grant's attention from larger policy questions. A series of Whiskey Ring prosecutions culminated in the February trial of Orville E. Babcock, Grant's private secretary. A new scandal erupted in March when Secretary of War William W. Belknap resigned, hoping in vain to avoid impeachment for selling post traderships. Grant drew fire for having accepted the resignation, a move that ultimately led to Belknap's acquittal by the Senate. An investigation also linked Grant's brother Orvil to the scandal. Grant battled a Democratic House of Representatives until late that summer over issues as vital as the budget and as symbolic as the president's absences from the capital. He welcomed Rutherford B. Hayes as the Republican choice for his successor, despite private irritation at Hayes's pointed pledge to serve only one term. As his presidency waned, Grant planned a trip to Europe when he left office. Investments would finance his travels, and he staked his fortunes on western mining stocks. In June, a granddaughter born at the White House brought the family joy in an otherwise trying year.

January 1-October 31, 1876

The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant

Notified of his nomination for a second term in June 1872, Ulysses S. Grant accepted, promising "the same zeal and devotion to the good of the whole people for the future of my official life, as shown in the past." Challenged by a coalition of disaffected Republicans and Democrats led by New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley, Grant was privately optimistic about his own chances. "There has been no time from the Baltimore Convention to this when I have felt the least anxiety. The Soreheads & thieves who have deserted the republican party have strengthened it by their departure." Despite his confidence, Grant found it difficult to ignore attacks against him?attacks that prudence prevented him from answering directly. He found vindication, however, on election day, when he carried all but six states. When Greeley died soon afterward, Grant set aside any bitterness and joined mourners at the New York City funeral. Among the policies that voters tacitly endorsed were Grant's continuing efforts to quell violence in the South, which achieved some success during 1872. He sought as before to support and encourage embattled Southern Republicans, hoping eventually to replace military protection with political legitimacy. On the subject of civil rights, he repeated his desire that blacks receive equal treatment in everyday life, telling a delegation that "a ticket on a railroad or other conveyance should entitle you to all that it does other men." Grant also maintained a steady course toward Indians, defending his peace policy when many clamored for harsher measures. "I do not believe our Creator ever placed different races of men on this earth with the view of having the stronger exert all his energies in exterminating the weaker." Protestant and Catholic missionaries and laymen continued to spread the twin gospels of religion and civilization among the various tribes. When a Sioux delegation visited the White House, Grant spoke of the future when "the game will be gone" and of his hope that the Sioux would join other tribes and move to Indian Territory. "We would at first build houses for your chiefs and principal men, and . . . send you large herds of cattle and sheep to live upon." Grant's foreign policy in 1872 centered on the Geneva tribunal, established the previous year to arbitrate the thorny dispute with Great Britain over the Alabama Claims. At stake were both the responsibility for past damages and future rules for neutral countries. Grant and Secretary of State Hamilton Fish debated long over the men best suited to present the United States' case. When the tribunal awarded $15.5 million to the United States, Grant and Fish celebrated their greatest foreign policy achievement. Several minor scandals clouded the horizon in 1872, most notably at the New York City customhouse, where influence peddling by former staff aide George K. Leet came under congressional scrutin

February 1-December 31, 1872

In his eighth and final annual message to Congress, Ulysses S. Grant reminded the nation that it was his "fortune or misfortune, to be called to the office of Chief Executive without any previous political training." The electoral crisis that dominated Grant's last months in office left little room for political error. On November 7, 1876, Democrat Samuel J. Tilden won the popular vote, but Republican Rutherford B. Hayes could claim the presidency by a single electoral vote if he captured all disputed electors from Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Oregon. Uncertainty gave way to deadlock as the crisis deepened. Grant's mail included a steady trickle of anonymous threats. In late January 1877, Grant signed a bill creating an electoral commission to end the dispute. Hayes won all disputed electors and succeeded Grant without incident. Out of the White House, without a settled home, the Grants spent two months visiting family and friends before embarking on their long-planned European tour. On May 17, Grant left Philadelphia aboard the steamer Indiana. When he arrived at Liverpool, crowds thronged the docks and streets to give him a hero's welcome, and Londoners welcomed Grant with similar enthusiasm. In July, the Grants crossed to Belgium, traveled through Germany, and summered in the Swiss Alps and the lakes of northern Italy. Back in Great Britain, they toured Scotland and northern England, then visited daughter Ellen Grant Sartoris at Warsash, the Sartoris country home near Southampton. Grant spent November in Paris, later writing "no American would stay in Paris if he found himself the only one of his countrymen there." The Grants wintered in the Mediterranean, sailing down the Italian coast to Sicily, where they spent Christmas, then to Alexandria, and a long trip up the Nile. The party toured the Holy Land, visited Constantinople and Athens, and spent a month in Italy. After another month in Paris, the Grants were off to Holland, Germany, Scandinavia, Russia, Austria, and Switzerland, exploring the Alps again before returning to Paris in September, 1878, to ponder their next move. Abroad and out of office, Grant freely talked about the war and his presidency. Several interviews stirred controversy in America and stoked talk of a third term in 1880, despite Grant's own protestation: "I never wanted to get out of a place as much as I did to get out of the Presidency." The Grants had seen Europe. Now they faced a choice between home and a journey to distant Asia.

The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant: November 1, 1876-September 30, 1878

Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant ...

Two Volumes in One

In his third annual message to the nation, Ulysses S. Grant stated the obvious: "The condition of the Southern States is, unhappily, not such as all true patriotic citizens would like to see." Brutal attacks and political murders throughout the South prompted Grant to invoke the new Enforcement Act, ordering in troops and suspending the writ of habeas corpus. When fire swept through Chicago during 1871, Grant immediately telegraphed to General Philip H. Sheridan to "Render all the aid you can." When Illinois' governor charged federal interference, Grant replied: "The only thing thought of was how to benefit a people struck by a calamity greater than had ever befallen a community, of the same number, before in this country." Grant's July Fourth proclamation announced British ratification of the Treaty of Washington. Elsewhere, the civil war in Cuba furnished a constant irritant. An exasperated Grant warned that each new atrocity strengthened American public opinion against Spain. Telling a friend "It will be a happy day for me when I am out of political life," Grant nevertheless cast a keen eye over the political landscape, looking toward the 1872 election. In another letter, never sent, he surveyed opposition within his own party, deftly characterized Horace Greeley as "a genius without common sense," and saved his worst for Senator Charles Sumner, a man he called "unreasonable, cowardly, slanderous, unblushing false." Despite his lack of zeal for presidential duties—he confessed: "I believe I am lazy and dont get credit for it"—Grant was not about to yield power to such scorned enemies.

June 1, 1871-January 31, 1872

Volume 20 is the first in this acclaimed series to cover the months when Ulysses S. Grant held no military commission. As president, however, Grant's significance grew rather than diminished. His leadership and decisions touched directly or indirectly most people in the United States and many more around the globe. Grant spoke sincerely when he said that "I have done all I could to advance the best interests of the citizens of our country, without regard to color, and I shall endeavor to do in the future what I have done in the past." He urged adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment and rejoiced in its ratification, expressing his belief that it was "the realization of the Declaration of Independence." Grant acknowledged that government had treated Indians badly in the past. In the short run, he recommitted his administration to the experiment of employing Quakers and humanitarians as Indian advisers and agents, trusting in eventual "great success." In the long run, however, Grant thought placing Indians on large reservations and encouraging them "to take their lands in severalty" and "to set up territorial governments for their own protection" the best course. In foreign affairs, Grant became fixed on the annexation of Santo Domingo, gave this issue an inordinate degree of attention, and squandered political capital in confrontations with Congress. Senate foreign affairs committee chairman Charles Sumner emerged as the villain preventing Grant from achieving his desire, and Grant displayed his animosity toward the Massachusetts senator in private as well as in the very public removal of Sumner's friend John L. Motley as minister to England. Developments such as growing tensions among European powers, Spanish-Cuban relations, and the Alabama Claims negotiations received relatively little attention. Grant, in fact, admitted shortly after the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, "I had no idea that such an event was even threatening."

November 1, 1869-October 31, 1870

Following the 1862–63 winter of dis­content, Grant suddenly launched a brilliant campaign against Vicksburg which ultimately bisected the Confeder­acy. A long campaign, which had begun in November 1862, with an advance from Tennessee down the Mississippi Central Railroad and a premature assault on Vicksburg in December by troops under Sherman, and which had been fol­lowed by long months of false starts and apparent inactivity in the bayou country north of the city and across the Mis­sissippi River in Louisiana, suddenly reached a quick and dramatic conclu­sion, as the events in this volume show.

April 1-July 6, 1863

By late 1878, after a year and a half abroad, Ulysses S. Grant had visited every country in Europe, and he was homesick. ?I have seen nothing to make me regret that I am an American. Our country: its resources; energy, inginuity and intelligence of the people, &c. is more appreciated abroad than at home.” Grant decided to return through Asia. After ?a delightful run” to Dublin and northern Ireland, he left Paris with his wife Julia, son Frederick, and a few friends in January, 1879. Heading east, Grant kept a travel diary. On the voyage to Bombay, travelers socialized on deck. ?Four of the lady passengers and one of the gentlemen Amature Artists, amused themselves by sketching me.” Crossing India overland, the Grant party rode elephants, visited the Taj Mahal, and witnessed Hindu ceremonies. From Calcutta, Grant sailed for Burma, Singapore, and Siam, where he found young King Chulalongkorn ?quite impressive in appearance and intelligent.” After stops at Hong Kong and Canton, Grant wrote: ?I am satisfied that the Chinese are badly treated at home by europeans as well as when they emigrate.” At Tientsin, Grant befriended Viceroy Li Hung-chang, ?probably the most intelligent and most advanced ruler?if not man?in China,” and at Peking he agreed to mediate a dispute with Japan over the Ryukyu Islands. While China languished, Japan had made ?almost inconceivable” progress since the 1868 Meiji Restoration. During a ?very delightful” ten weeks, Grant met the Emperor, visited shrines and hot springs, attended a play and a lantern parade in his honor, and held talks on the Ryukyu dispute. He departed ?with assurances that pleasant recollections of my present visit will not vanish while my life lasts.” Throngs welcomed Grant to San Francisco on September 20, 1879. Grant assured all that the United States stood second to none in the world in its people, institutions, and ideals. He told Confederate veterans: ?I have an abiding faith that we will remain together in future harmony.” Grant toured Yosemite and visited scenes from his army days in Oregon and Washington Territory, then headed east again, his train cheered at every stop. At Galena and Chicago he basked in the warmth of ovations and old friends. Another series of crowds and banquets culminated in December at Philadelphia, where Grant completed his circuit of the globe. As 1880 began, Grant headed south. He marveled at Florida's potential and groused at Cuba's heat, then reached Mexico, a country he had long ago admired as part of an occupying army. ?The climate is perfection, the scenery unsurpassed and the people as clever and hospitable as it is possible for them to be.” Grant met influential leaders, toured silver mines and old battlefields, and encouraged development. Grant returned to New Orleans and more banquets and speeches, touting reconciliation and praising black advancement. His progress north took on the air of a campaign as the Republican convention loomed. Newspapers debated a third term while Grant kept silent. In June, at Chicago, delegates split between Grant and James G. Blaine, and settled on dark horse James A. Garfield. Grant expressed relief at avoiding a ?most violent campaign.” Grant spent the summer in the Rocky Mountains inspecting mines, sometimes by pack mule, for possible investments. In September, back in Galena, he rejoined the political fray, attacking Garfield's opponent, Major General Winfield S. Hancock, in an interview. ?He is the most selfish man I know.... He can not bear to hear anyone else praised, but can take any amount of flattery.” With the election weeks away, and the outcome in doubt, Grant took to the stump. ?I am a Republican,” he told an Ohio crowd, ?as the two great political parties are now divided, because the Republican Party is a national party seeking the greatest good for the greatest number of citizens.”

October 1, 1878 - September 30, 1880

On March 29, Grant opened the Ap­pomattox campaign, informing Sheridan that “I now feel like ending the matter.” Despite pleas to cancel the offensive because of adverse weather, Grant pressed ahead. Sheridan won the battle of Five Forks on April 1, and the next day Grant overran Lee's lines at Petersburg, forcing the evacuation of Richmond. Grant's mastery was never more appar­ent than during his last battle. “I shall press the pursuit to the end,” he wrote to Sherman, and by April 19 Lee had to choose between capitulation or annihila­tion. With the surrender at Appomattox, Grant demonstrated his capacity for making peace as well as for waging war. In the frantic aftermath of Lincoln's death, Grant maintained his customary levelheadedness despite clamor for ven­geance. He hoped that in President Andrew Johnson “we will find a man dis­posed and capable of conducting the gov­ernment in its old channel.”

February 21-April 30, 1865

In the spring of 1871, Ulysses S. Grant wrote to an old friend that as president he was "the most persecuted individual on the Western Continent." Grant had not sought the office, and halfway through his first term he chafed under its many burdens. Grant's cherished project to annex Santo Domingo, begun early in his administration, entered a crucial period. Grant agreed to a tactical compromise: Rather than vote the controversial treaty down, Congress sent a commission to investigate the island. Grant's message submitting the report, hammered out over labored drafts, bore a defensive tone and asked Congress to postpone any decision. Closer to home, Grant sought legislation to facilitate federal intervention in the persecution of blacks by white extremists across the South. After much acrimony and stinging accusations of executive tyranny, Congress passed an Enforcement Act, hailed by Grant as "a law of extraordinary public importance." The greatest accomplishment of Grant's first term came in foreign relations. After secret negotiations, the United States and Great Britain met in a Joint High Commission to settle long-standing grievances, from boundary and fishing questions to British complicity in the depredations of the Alabama and other Confederate raiders. The resulting Treaty of Washington established an international tribunal in Geneva, Switzerland. At home, economic prosperity and consequent debt reduction meant that Grant could see "no reason why in a few short years the national taxgatherer may not disappear from the door of the citizen almost entirely." His Indian policy, influenced by Eastern Quakers and often ridiculed for its benevolence, augured well. Despite continued clashes between Indians and settlers, Grant maintained that compassion rather than force would answer the Indian problem.

Jessie Thomas

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