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PERSONAL
MEMOIRS
BY ULYSSES S. GRANT
Ulysses Simpson Grant was one of the least understood
officers to serve on either side of the American Civil War, and as such he has
been overlooked by many students of military history. He was very quiet and
unassuming to the point of reticence, yet he had a keen eye for detail and an
uncanny ability to get things done. He was notoriously casual with his
appearance, and his relative unpopularity with tradition-bound officers led to
many stories of drunkenness and bad behavior. This however, was a great
exaggeration, because the most substantial stories of drunkenness dated from
ten years earlier to a time and place when most officers at Grant's pre-war
post spent much of their time drinking.
During the war, many officers
who felt threatened by Grant's meteoric rise would "wheel out" the old
accusations. But the people who worked with Grant came to know the truth about
his hard working nature, people such as Sherman, Lincoln and Halleck, although
even the later had once promoted many exaggerations about Grant when he felt it
convenient. Grant's ultimate success was the pinning down and neutralization of
the main Confederate field armies in coordination with General Sherman, his
most famous subordinate. These actions, coupled with his generous treatment and
terms for the surrendered Confederate forces undoubtedly shortened his nation's
path to reunification.
These select chapters are based on the 1886
edition published by Charles L. Webster & Company. Many sections of the
memoirs were written while General Grant was suffering from terminal cancer,
and it should be remembered that minor errors of omission may have
occurred.
Volume II
Chapter 46 a
· Chapter 46 b
Operations in Mississippi - Longstreet in East Tennessee -
Commissioned Lieutenant-General - Commanding the Armies of the United States -
First Interview with President Lincoln.
Chapter 47 a · Chapter 47 b
The Military
Situation - Plans for the Campaign - Sheridan Assigned to Command of the
Cavalry - Flank Movements - Forrest at Fort Pillow - General Bank's Expedition
- Colonel Mosby - An Incident of the Wilderness Campaign.
Chapter 48 a
Commencement of the
Grand Campaign - General Butler's Position - Sheridan's First Raid.
Chapter 49 (coming next)
Sherman's
Campaign in Georgia - Siege of Atlanta - Death of General McPherson - Capture
of Atlanta. |
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