Ulysses Grant

The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant is the autobiography of Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th President of the United States, focused mainly on his military career during the Mexican-American War and the American Civil War.

The Complete Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant

Dana Kraft

One of the reasons I like reading source material is that little details and offhand comments provide a great sense of what life was really like at the time. I’m also heartened to see that people who lived 100 or more years ago are not much different than we are today in some ways. A few examples from this book:

“For six months before graduation I had had a desperate cough (‘Tyler’s grip’ it was called)...” - the annotation says “In the early 1840s, a severe strain of influenza spread throughout the United States. The disease, also known as ‘lightning catarrh’ was usually referred to as ‘Tyler’s grip’, a response to the unpopular presidency of John Tyler. P. 24

“Correspondents of the press were ever on hand to hear every word dropped, and were not always disposed to report correctly what did not confirm their preconceived notions, either about the conduct of the war or the individuals concerned in it.” P. 245

Referring to Europeans installing Maximilian as emperor of Mexico...”It is true they trumped up grievances as a pretext, but they were only pretexts which can always be found when wanted.” P. 758

The Complete Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant

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