reading a book on Grant now. One thing I didnt know.. he NEVER cursed. Just not the image I had of him... and he was a clerk when the war started!!
Grant was a mediocre soldier, and largely a failure as a citizen. He came into his own as a general when Lincoln recognized that sometimes sheer tenacity wins wars. In contrast to the “feint-and-withdraw” complacency of Maclellan, Grant was a steady, driving force that pounded onward even against repeated resistance. He knew he could defeat the Confederates just by wearing them down.
Lee was the tactician — and a brilliant one. Grant was the strategist, more determined than brilliant.
Grant found little success in life after he left the army in
1854. When the war started, he was a clerk in his father’s leather goods store in Galena IL.
A failed clerk, too. He had an amazing life - filled with drama and endless rags to riches stories. I’ve visited the house he died in which is in NY state. There are photos of him taken there while he was writing his memoirs.