Posted on 05/28/2020 6:06:35 AM PDT by Bull Snipe
about the History Channel's three part series "GRANT"?
I really recommend the book Grant’s Final Victory by Charles Flood. It is about his last year of life.
Before this, most of what I read about Grant involved drinking, butchery and corruption. This series casts a new light upon him, especially at the end where it is said how popular he was.
I’m not aware that Grant has been in the public eye much lately.
Suspicious me wonders what is behind the sudden effort to elevate his reputation.
Thanks
Fully agree with the consensus that the series was pretty well done and represented General Grant probably as close to character as possible.
I was a Civil War reenactor for 20 years. Found a lot of faults with weapons, troop handling, uniforms, battle scenarios, etc. But overall it was worth watching.
Back in the late 1960’s, Michigan’s history text books stated that the war started over tariffs, taxes and because the Southern States were getting too cozy with England on their own. I don’t think The Lost Cause had anything to do with it, but I don’t know for sure.
I read his memoirs so isn’t that -’hick’- enough?
Grant opposed slavery, so he received favorable treatment from all the commentators, historians, civil war experts. Properly so, but that’s likely why SJWs like deCaprio financed it. And they got a chance to vilify southerners, the KKK, etc.
Grant’s strategic genius was most fascinating. Sneaking thousands of troops down the Mississippi right in front of the confederate troops on the hilltops of Vicksburg was stunning. (under cover of darkness, hugging the shoreline in extreme proximity to friendly homes.)
Similarly, traversing troops and armaments over the James river by pontoon in hours. One sees why Lincoln depended on him.
Interesting that Lincoln’s wimpy General McClellan ran as a D against Grant after Lincoln’s assassination, probably showing why he failed executing the war against the confederates. Slavery sympathizer perhaps.
I was intrigued
I thought the series was pretty good. I think it understated just how daring Grant was in taking Vicksburg. It was definitely not by the book.
I was very disappointed. I thought the series was going to be about the singer Amy Grant.
What I found interesting is that the narrative as to Grant's faults was apparently created and pushed by anti-reconstructionist democrats who wanted to destroy Grant and his presidency at all costs. According the the documentary, Grant was the first "civil rights president" and the democrats did not like that one bit.
It was as if we were hearing from Mr. Jefferson himself. In the gift shop, I encountered a woman who had asked him to explain his stance on slavery, as he was a slaveowner himself. It was an evenhanded response, and he didn't absolve himself.
I thanked her for her question, and she told me she was a librarian in Manassas VA. She said, "I learned that I need to read more!"
I'll be ordering Grant's memoirs soon, and Vicksburg is about a 6 hour drive from our house. We've driven past it several times, but never stopped.
I need to get off my rear and get a History degree, where hopefully I can teach at the middle or HS level. I'm not worried about my age (66), I met my first faculty advisor in college when he was 77, and he taught economics until his retirement at 90.
My grandson enters 4th grade in August, where he'll get his first round of instruction on Texas History. I've got several excursions planned for him to supplement the curriculum: Gonzales, Hill Country, and he's already visited the Alamo. Of course, we'll walk the battlefield at San Jacinto.
I purchased several books from Osprey Publishing's Campaign series yesterday, one of which was the Texas War of Independence. These books have maps and other illustrations to assist the reader. I'm looking forward to the book on the Battle of Blenheim, for personal reasons. One of John Churchill's victories in this campaign came at the town I lived in Germany, Traben-Trarbach. To my knowledge, I never saw any historical markers in the town, and I lived there 4 years. It's not that surprising, considering the Germans and French fought over that area for probably 1000 years.
It’s available now on History Channel.
Over the years, several bios have been written about Grant.
Some of them, as you say are “drinking, butchery and corruption”. Some, like Bruce Catton’s 3 volume biography of Grant from the 1950s-60s and Chernov’s recent bio, paint a much more balanced view of Grant. Grant never acquired the divine like status that Lee has come to be known by.
I don’t see it as a sudden effort to elevate his reputation.
The reputation afforded him by numerous lost cause writers is that of cold, drunk, butcher who’s victories were the result of mindless frontal attacks made by wave upon wave of drafted immigrants overwhelming the valiant and heroic Confederate forces. This, of course is not really the case, but that is how it has been written over the years. Catton and Chernov paint a much more balanced picture of the man. Grant was a man with faults, as are all men, he was a man that made mistakes, as all men do. But he managed his faults, learned from his mistakes, and in the end, if credited with being the man that gave the North Victory in the Civil War.
Vilify the KKK? Heaven forbid!
Watch the show, huh. Grant got a raw deal from historians, commentators and Civil War experts for years. He's coming back into his own only now.
I thought it was very good, especially the stuff on Grant in the west. Most presentations of the Civil War concentrate on Virginia. Most of what I know about the fighting certainly relates to Lee and Virginia, so it was good to see another side of the war on the screen.
Waiting for their three-part docu-drama on Robert E. Lee. Waiting.... still waiting....
You can see him on CSPAN sometimes. He was on a few nights ago in the garden. The guy certainly knew his flowers.
“I do remember all the trouble AL had with McClellan and his constant dithering and retreating.”
Agreed. One could make a substantial case that the Confederacy lost the Civil War by losing the war in the West.
I think Sherman made a statement to the effect that “Lee was saving the front porch while the rest of the house burnt to the ground”.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.