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The book begins with Grant's first command in the Civil War, the 21st Illinois Volunteer Regiment. The governor's memories of Grant were that he was a plain man a description that followed him throughout the war. Grant took charge in his quiet way and soon his regiment developed a respect for the "quiet man". That was the way it was all through Grant's career in the Civil War as from one command to another he took care of what he referred to as "the business".
This book follows Grant's career through the Battle of Vicksburg. I am reasonably familiar with Grant's military career and was much more interested in Catton's portrayal of the personal aspects of Grant's life. I don't know how Catton felt about Grant before he wrote this book but his admiration for Grant is very apparent here.
A prime example is how Catton goes out of his way to squelch all of the stories about Grant's drinking. He goes into great detail to prove wrong an incident from a book by Sylvanus Cadwallader. Cadwallader was a reporter covering the war who got to know Grant. He supposedly came across Grant on a boat on the Mississippi in the middle of a drinking bout. He spent the next three days rescuing Grant from whiskey and finally getting him back to his command post. Grant's chief aide, John A. Rawlins, was present when Grant got back. Rawlins, whose father had been a drunk, was very severe on Grant about drinking and demamnded the whole story from Cadwallader. Cadwallader then told him everything. Catton cites a personal letter written by Rawlins two days after this supposedly happened which has no mention of the incident. Catton concludes that Cadwallader's story which was published decades after the incident and Grant's death was simply a story to get a book published not true at all. I found it interesting that Catton went to that much trouble to disprove the story which I had read in Cadwallader's book.
Another interesting incident where Catton attests to Grant's character invovled a visit to him by Mary Livermore from the Sanitary Commission in the winter of 1863. She was on a mission to have twenty-one sick soldiers who needed to be discharged from the army. She had heard all of the horror stories about Grant and was prepared for the worst. Catton quotes from her notes, " Grant was not a drunkard....... The clear eye, the clear skin, firm flesh and steady nerves of General Grant gave lie to the universal calumnies then current....". Mrs. Livermore then presented Grant with the story of the sick soldiers and their brief conversation ended inconclusively. The next day a staff officer delivered the signed paperwork to Mrs. Livermore giving the soldiers their discharges.
Catton also described Grant as a man who was most happy when he was with his family. I remember a description of a smiling Grant sitting in a chair with his children all around him playing.
But Grant was also a General and according to Catton a general with a core of iron. He compares Grant and Sherman. Sherman was known as a man who talked about the horror of war but Grant was the general who dealt in casualties as part of the job and never flinched. When Sherman took Atlanta he fought by maneuver and never had great casualties. Grant was never afraid to order an assault and take casualties.
I enjoyed the book. Of course there is much more too it and it was all very well written. Most important this is about Grant as a person and according to the author a very decent person.
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A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian looks at the complex, controversial Union commander who ensured the Confederacy's downfall in the Civil War. In this New York Times bestseller, preeminent Civil War historian Bruce Catton narrows his focus on commander Ulysses S. Grant, whose bold tactics and relentless dedication to the Union ultimately ensured a Northern victory in the nation's bloodiest conflict. While a succession of Union generals--from McClellan to Burnside to Hooker to Meade--were losing battles and sacrificing troops due to ego, egregious errors, and incompetence, an unassuming Federal Army commander was excelling in the Western theater of operations. Though unskilled in military power politics and disregarded by his peers, Colonel Grant, commander of the Twenty-First Illinois Volunteer Infantry, was proving to be an unstoppable force. He won victory after victory at Belmont, Fort Henry, and Fort Donelson, while brilliantly avoiding near-catastrophe and ultimately triumphing at Shiloh. And Grant's bold maneuvers at Vicksburg would cost the Confederacy its invaluable lifeline: the Mississippi River. But destiny and President Lincoln had even loftier plans for Grant, placing nothing less than the future of an entire nation in the capable hands of the North's most valuable military leader. Based in large part on military communiqués, personal eyewitness accounts, and Grant's own writings, Catton's extraordinary history offers readers an insightful look at arguably the most innovative Civil War battlefield strategist, unmatched by even the South's legendary Robert E. Lee.… (more)