When Ely Parker encountered him, he asked if Grant planned to enter the conflict. “He replied that he honored his country, and that having received his education at the expense of the Government, it was entitled to his services.”53 The Civil War was about to rescue Grant from a dismal record of antebellum business failures. Even his posture became more erect, more military. “I saw new energies in Grant,” said Rawlins. “He dropped a stoop shouldered way of walking, and set his hat forward on his forehead in a careless fashion.”54 Many major figures in history could have succeeded in almost any
...more
