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April 10 - April 27, 2017
Yet Grant as president defended the political rights of African Americans, battled against the Ku Klux Klan and voter suppression, reimagined Indian policy, rethought the role of the federal government in a changing America, and foresaw that as the United States would now assume a larger place in world affairs, a durable peace with Great Britain would provide the nation with a major ally.
SAM WAS ALSO attracted to Sir Walter Scott, pioneer of the historical novel.
One of Sam’s best friends was also in the class of 1842. James “Pete” Longstreet, born into a well-connected farming family, grew up as a privileged son of Georgia and Alabama. At six feet two inches tall, with brown hair and blue eyes, he towered over Sam.
the prospect of war with Mexico proved a unique challenge to a new generation of Americans. This war would be the first fought on foreign soil; the first against a non-European army; and the first against a people who spoke a different language.
The president consciously courted war, but in doing so he misjudged his adversary.
The Americans won the first two battles of the war because of the mobility of their artillery, the longer range of their cannon, the superiority of their ammunition, and the training and proficiency of soldiers led by trained officers. Thanks to the performance of the West Point officers, all previous criticism of the academy and its graduates ceased.
THE MEXICAN WAR was the first time West Point graduates fought in an American conflict in substantial numbers.
Ulysses and Julia were married at the Dent home on August 22, 1848, a warm summer evening.
Meanwhile, Grant watched in horror as cholera broke out among the men, women, and children. An infection of the small intestine that causes watery diarrhea, cholera can lead to severe dehydration and death within hours. Physically fit soldiers were struck down in the morning and died before the day was done.
ON THE EVE of Election Day, November 6, 1860, telegraph reports poured in indicating Abraham Lincoln would be elected the nation’s sixteenth president.
ON THE EARLY morning of April 12, 1861, Confederate artillery fired on Fort Sumter. In Galena, the telegraph tapped out news of the surrender of the South Carolina fort.
This war, predicted for years by many, North and South, nevertheless burst like a spring storm across the nation in 1861. Nearly everyone, including Grant, did not believe it would last long, a few months at most, over by the end of summer.
The Civil War was beginning without Grant.
On his way back to Illinois, he stopped to visit West Point classmate Joe Reynolds in Lafayette, Indiana. While he was there, a telegram from Governor Yates caught up with him. He opened it to read that Yates had appointed him colonel to command the Seventh Regiment, which he had mustered into service at Mattoon a month earlier. Grant accepted this assignment eagerly. Many West Pointers looked down their noses at volunteers; he did not.
Illustrator N. C. Wyeth brilliantly captures
AMERICAN ARMIES TRADITIONALLY did not campaign in winter. George Washington went into camp each winter in the Revolutionary War. He surprised the British at Trenton and Princeton precisely because they could not imagine him crossing the Delaware on December 25, 1776.
Wallace, who three decades later would become famous as the celebrated author of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, described the tumultuous scene:
The ferocious two-day Battle of Shiloh in April 1862 resulted in more than twenty-three thousand casualties and brought Grant both acclaim and criticism.
He observed how the hero became “Unconditional Surrender,” then “Uncle Sam,” and finally “United States” Grant.
The brilliant but acerbic Edwin Stanton served as secretary of war under Lincoln.
At Sherman’s suggestion, Grant decided on Pittsburg Landing, nine miles south of Savannah on the west side of the river, for his army’s main encampment.
Grant feared the abilities of Nathan Bedford Forrest, who with no military training led his Confederate cavalry in raid after raid against Union positions in the South.
When Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, a provocative Vanity Fair cartoon depicted “The New Place,” but the caption, in African American dialect, wondered aloud what this would really mean for freed slaves.
But the proclamation did contain this promise: “And I further declare and make known, that such persons of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.” Did Lincoln intend to have freed slaves join the Union army? The majority of Northern soldiers did not sign up to free black slaves or to fight beside them. But if emancipation could be achieved, it would be by the marching feet of a liberating army.
By the battle for Vicksburg, Grant had become adept at evaluating the different kinds of intelligence information he received many times each day.
Grant had several habits going for him that Bragg did not. He listened; he asked questions; he did not attempt to micromanage; he seldom engaged in criticism after a battle.
“The North & South could never live at peace with each other except as one nation, and that without Slavery.” The letter cooled some Democrats’ ardor.
Julia Grant, afflicted with strabismus in one eye, seldom allowed herself to be photographed. The few photographs we have always picture her at an angle, so that the affected eye is not shown.
Lincoln made himself accessible to many photographers while serving as president. This popular photograph was made by Alexander Gardner in his Washington, D.C., studio.
FOR TWO DAYS, nearly two hundred thousand men fought one another in the deadly Battle of the Wilderness. The stark statistics—the Federals suffered 17,666 casualties and the Confederates about 7,500—do not begin to describe the horror. Nature was as much an enemy as the opposing army—diminishing light, disorienting vision, barring ways, and entangling attempted advances. Sound became as important as sight. As the scrub forest caught fire, men were burned alive. Other men, seeing the fire approaching, killed themselves with their own weapons.
Unlike Grant, who started the Civil War near the bottom of the chain of command, Lee began near the top.
In March 1862, Jefferson Davis recalled him to Richmond to serve as his personal military adviser.
Soldier and artist Charles Wellington Reed depicts Grant on Cincinnati, rider and horse fused together in motion.
Grant, renowned for his horsemanship, owned a number of horses during the Civil War, but none was more powerful than the enormous Cincinnati, who dwarfed his five-foot-eight-inch rider.
Lee believed if he and Joe Johnston could hang on for another four months, they might yet win by not losing.
The victory at Atlanta changed everything. Pessimism dissolved, and a revival of Unionist fervor swept through the North.
Grant wrote Sherman, “It is hardly necessary for me to say that I feel you have accomplished the most gigantic undertaking given to any General in this War and with a skill and ability that will be acknowledged in history as unsurpassed.”
Grant wrote Stanton that he believed Lincoln’s reelection “is a victory worth more to the country than a battle won.”
Sherman had finally captured Atlanta on September 2 and proposed a November march to the sea.
The joint effort worked. Sherman reached the sea on December 13, where he captured Fort McAllister. The real prize was Savannah, a coastal city of colorful brick townhouses built by slave labor, which Sherman entered on December 22. He wrote Grant, “I take great satisfaction in reporting that we are in possession of Savannah and all its forts.”
Sherman wrote Lincoln with more panache: “I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the City of Savannah.”
BY NOW GRANT’S army consisted of more than 125,000 soldiers, while Lee’s army was made up of barely 50,000, of whom only 35,000 were fit to fight.
The president offered a lengthy reply stressing his desire for reconciliation. He told Sherman he wanted to “get the men comprising the Confederate armies back to their homes, at work on their farms and in their shops.”
George Healy’s painting portrays the March 28, 1865, meeting on the River Queen where Grant, Lincoln, Sherman, and Porter discussed what should be done when the war finally ended.
THE NEXT DAY, Sunday, April 2, having cut off all Lee’s escape routes to the South but one, Grant’s army attacked all along the lines at Petersburg. That same morning, as Jefferson Davis sat in his regular pew at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Richmond, a sexton crept down the aisle in the middle of the service and handed him a telegram from Lee. Grant was breaking through the lines at Petersburg. To preserve his army, Lee made the decision to evacuate the capital. One by one, members of the government and military rose from their pews—in the middle of the sermon—to leave the church. Richmond
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After a siege of 293 days, Grant forced the Confederates to abandon Petersburg and Richmond on the same day.
THE NEXT DAY, April 4, Lincoln made a memorable visit to Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy; but the conquering hero, Grant, chose not to join him. He was off on a sprint to the finish line. Lee, combining troops from Richmond and
On the morning of April 7, with Grant close behind, Lee’s men stopped briefly in Farmville, where he found rations at last. Grant arrived in Farmville that afternoon; having left his luggage behind on his night ride to Sheridan’s headquarters, he had with him only the mud-spattered clothes he was wearing.
After conversations about the return of prisoners, with Grant promising twenty-five thousand rations for Lee’s hungry troops, Lee departed McLean’s house. Silently he mounted Traveller and, with what observers said was an audible sigh, prepared to ride away. Just then Grant stepped out on the porch, stopped, and raised his hat as a mark of respect. Sheridan, Ord, and the other Federal officers followed his example. Lee raised his hat in return.
Grant met Robert E. Lee at Wilmer McLean’s home at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, to arrange for the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia. Grant’s magnanimous terms would become part of his enduring legacy.
