happy birthday to President And General Ulysses Grant

[basquebromance]

a giant man, physically and historically!

Ulysses S. Grant

Civil War Trust's biography of Union Civil War General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant.

www.battlefields.org

 

[basquebromance]

did you know?

when he was 2 years old, Grant's dad dared a neighbor to fire a pistol near his son, sure he would take it in stride. instead of erupting in tears, Grant enjoyed the loud noise and wanted more. "Fick it again! Fick it again", he bellowed.

that incident set a lifelong pattern of Grant being impervious to physical danger!

 

[basquebromance]

Grant said that it was a principle of his never to swear in his life

even as a raw country boy, he allowed himself no further than bellowing "Thunder And Lightning"

once, when quarreling with his VP, he was provoked to say "Darn". that was the only time Grant ever swore, my friends!

 

[basquebromance]

Grant failed to dazzle classmates with his intelligence. one classmate reacted to news that Grant had been accepted at West Point: if that numbskull could make it, i know i can"

 

[Hawk1981]

When he was first invited to write his autobiography in 1881, Grant had declined the offer. “No one is interested in me”, referring to two books about him which had recently flopped. But when, in 1884, he was swindled out of his savings, and desperate for money, the offer seemed much more tempting.

The Personal Memoirs of US Grant (1885) are all the more remarkable for having been completed under duress. When he began to write, he had begun to suffer the agonizing pain of throat cancer. It was only his inflexible determination, the quality that had made him a great general, that mastered the torments of ill-health – sleepless nights, fear of dying – to articulate his account for a devoted American audience. By many accounts, Grant’s memoirs fully capture the man himself: they are well observed, often humorous, invariably charming, penetrating and lucid.

Grant's Memoirs have never been out of print, and are still often listed on American best nonfiction lists.

 

[basquebromance]

"Grant's mental machine is of the powerful low-pressure class...which pushes steadily forward and drives all obstacles before it" - Dennis Hart Mahan

 

[basquebromance]

"when i entered West Point, there were debates in Congress about abolishing the academy. i read about that with eagerness, hoping to hear that the school had been abolished, so that i could go home without being a disgrace to my father" - Grant

 

[basquebromance]

"Kindly then remember me
I'll also often think of thee
Nor forget the soldier story
Gone to gain the field of glory" - Grant poem to his girlfriend

 

[basquebromance]

"that horse will kill you someday", a friend warned Grant about York, an intractable horse dreaded by most WP Cadets

"Well, I can't die but once", Grant bellowed in response

 

[basquebromance]

Grant said that his happiest day was his last day as POTUS, with the possible exception of graduation day at West Point!

 

[whitehall]

General and president, not president and general. The (recovering?) alcoholic would have been hanged as a war criminal in a just world. Imagine ordering an army to "make waste to the (civilian) Shenandoah Valley (the breadbasket of the Confederacy) so that a crow will have to pack a lunch". Yankee pillagers burned barns and killed stock and hanged civilians who resisted. Grant's presidency is generally considered to be the most corrupt in history.

 

[basquebromance]

If you want to know more, be sure to check out History Channel's 3-night miniseries event starting on Memorial Day about Grant!

he was the youngest president elected at the time, at 46

 

[basquebromance]

Trump just retweeted this article

New Miniseries Reveals Similarities Between Trump and Grant: 'The Elites' Were Against Them

Ulysses S. Grant has seen the largest rise of any of the presidents in C-SPAN's ranking by noted historians.

www.westernjournal.com

 

[Tom Paine 1949]

Great post! I did not know a lot of this. Thanks for recommending the new miniseries.

Grant gets slandered a lot, and I’ve even heard “he was a slave owning hypocrite!” Actually, as I recall, his father was a strong abolitionist who refused to attend Grant’s wedding because his young wife’s extended family owned slaves. Later, Grant and his wife inherited one slave. At that time (well before the war) he was trying to make a living as a farmer and he and his wife were hard up. Nevertheless he freed the slave when he could easily have sold him, as most would have in those days. Grant had character.

He would have been a fascinating man to have a drink with ... or two or three!

 

[basquebromance]

Grant coined the term "lobbyists"...not many know that!

 

[harmonica]

a giant man, physically and historically!

Ulysses S. Grant

Civil War Trust's biography of Union Civil War General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant.

www.battlefields.org

a good guy
..but he was 5' 8''.......?

 

[mikegriffith1]

Are you kidding me? Yikes, I take it you're not aware that Grant falsified battle accounts to try to discredit generals he didn't like, even if they were outstanding generals (such as General George H. Thomas). And then there is the massive corruption that occurred in Grant's administration, not to mention the ruthless wars of conquest that Grant waged against the Indians. This is your idea of a great American hero???

 

[Tom Paine 1949]

... the ruthless wars of conquest that Grant waged against the Indians.

I notice your comments always lack context and leave out much, and paint Grant in the worst possible light. Your recommended books, which I have not read but spent time investigating, seem to do the very same thing. Those tragic wars you mentioned followed the failure of Grant’s very forward looking policies seeking to make American Indians full citizens. Here is a fine Smithsonian Magazine article that puts all that into context. It reminds us of Grant’s long friendship with and sponsoring of Seneca Indian leader Ely Parker to head the Indian Affairs bureau, something unheard of and viciously opposed by Congress. Parker was at Grant’s side throughout the Civil War and famously wrote up the surrender terms that Lee signed at Appomattox: Ulysses Grant's Failed Attempt to Grant Native Americans Citizenship