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President Ulysses S. Grant Deserves More Respect (born 200 years ago today)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/bicentennial-president-ulysses-grant-deserves-respect-civil-war-general-orders-american-history-slavery-racial-justice-11651002654 ^ | 4/26/22 | Allen C. Guelzo

Posted on 04/27/2022 9:57:50 AM PDT by Borges

There is nothing stranger in American history than the up-and-down reputation of Ulysses S. Grant.

Grant, who was born April 27, 1822, was the commanding general who ended the Civil War. He managed the great campaigns that captured Vicksburg and Richmond, saved Chattanooga, and compelled the surrender of Robert E. Lee and the main Confederate field army, and did it so well that President Abraham Lincoln apologized for not showing him enough confidence. Grant’s “Personal Memoirs,” published after he died in 1885, are a landmark of 19th-century American prose.

Grant may be a greater example even than Lincoln of the American rags-to-riches story. In 1861 he was working in his father’s leather-goods store in Galena, Ill. Three years later, he was general-in-chief of U.S. forces. Four years after that, he was elected president.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: 1861; civilwar; dunmoreproclamation; godsgravesglyphs; grant; hiramulyssesgrant; skinheadsonfr; ulyssessgrant
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To: Pete Dovgan

“His greatest victories were taking Vicksburg and his breakout of Chattanooga.”

He totally BUFFOONED Chattanooga. The breakout occurred IN SPITE OF GRANT. Had his orders been obeyed, it wouldn’t have happened.

Shiloh was another example of such bad leadership by Grant that he deserved to be fired.

https://www.grantunderfire.com/

https://www.grantunderfire.com/961/a-critique-of-the-history-channels-miniseries-on-ulysses-s-grant/

Grant’s military reputation is based on his memoirs, which were the primary source for many historians. But Grant either lied or grossly mis-remembered what happened. Contemporary accounts, and the orders he actually gave at the time, show he massively screwed up many battles.

Not all - he did have a few genuinely excellent moments. But his reputation was built on the book he wrote with Mark Twain, not what he actually did, thought, and tried to do during the war.


21 posted on 04/27/2022 10:48:25 AM PDT by Mr Rogers (We're a nation of feelings, not thoughts.)
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To: Pete Dovgan

👍


22 posted on 04/27/2022 10:48:25 AM PDT by laplata (")
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To: Borges; null and void

Interesting...I just remarked to Freeper null and void today that I thought Grant was underappreciated. I thought he was a great man, he had his flaws, but all great people do.

Timely!


23 posted on 04/27/2022 10:48:36 AM PDT by rlmorel (Democrats running things is termite infestation, and the exterminator won't be here for 3 years.)
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To: jmacusa

“It was Lincoln who told Grant “Let them up easy’’”.

And Grant did it.


24 posted on 04/27/2022 10:49:56 AM PDT by laplata (")
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To: DoodleDawg

Few heroes stand up to close inspection.

Grant does. He was not great at everything he did except for being a general. He was one of the first to approach it as a technical problem to be solved. He outflanked Lee, cut off the southwest from the rest of the Confederacy, and allowed Sherman to do his thing.

Many other generals would have played politics, Grant just got the job done


25 posted on 04/27/2022 10:51:11 AM PDT by redgolum (If this is civilization, I will be the barbarian. )
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To: DoodleDawg

Eisenhower sucked as a general and didn’t know what he was talking about in discussing Grant. He took over after the South had lost far too many men and the war of attrition was wearing them down. He took over after Gettysburg. He had huge advantages over Lee once he took over and frequently threw mens lives away.

And Shiloh? Grant should have been fired and court-martialed for his buffoonery, laziness and sheer dishonesty.


26 posted on 04/27/2022 10:53:57 AM PDT by Mr Rogers (We're a nation of feelings, not thoughts.)
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To: Borges

No paywall source-
https://goodwordnews.com/president-ulysses-s-grant-deserves-more-respect/


27 posted on 04/27/2022 10:55:21 AM PDT by matthew fuller (He hits from both sides of the plate. He's amphibious. Yogi Berra )
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To: Borges

Wish Grant had been sniped at Shiloh. It would have saved a whole lot of lives .


28 posted on 04/27/2022 10:56:30 AM PDT by LeoWindhorse
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To: LeoWindhorse

The same could be said of Lee...


29 posted on 04/27/2022 11:00:16 AM PDT by rockrr ( Everything is different now...)
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To: Borges

Grant was the greatest American General. In the civil war he was only general on either to capture an entire enemy army and he did it three times. He was a brilliant strategist as well as tactician and was the supreme general terms of organization and logistics.


30 posted on 04/27/2022 11:02:30 AM PDT by circlecity
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To: Monterrosa-24

Ever see what he said about the fourth bridge in Scotland?

After getting a look at it he said..”That is a mighty big bridge.”
That was it, just that and nothing more.


31 posted on 04/27/2022 11:05:30 AM PDT by crz
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To: Mr Rogers

That is nonsense. If anyone failed on the union side it was Sherman who got caught with his pants down. When Grant showed up at the battlefield he turned the tide and stopped the Southern advance then whipped them the next day.


32 posted on 04/27/2022 11:05:38 AM PDT by circlecity
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To: Mr Rogers

Yet Grant lost only one battle the entire war (Cold Harbor) and never made the same mistake twice.


33 posted on 04/27/2022 11:07:52 AM PDT by circlecity
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To: Borges

A better military man than any of his critics. Got the job done.


34 posted on 04/27/2022 11:10:01 AM PDT by Republican in occupied CA (I will not give up on my native State! Here I was born, here I fight and die!!)
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To: circlecity

He has sucked you into one of the usual things that happen on this web site.

A useless argument. Anyone who says that Eisenhower or Grant were poor commanders is not worthy of a discussion.


35 posted on 04/27/2022 11:13:34 AM PDT by crz
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To: DoodleDawg
"Grant is very undervalued today, which is a shame, because he was one of the greatest American generals, if not the greatest."

In my ever-so-humble opinion, Eisenhower himself was one of our greatest Generals, and Presidents. I vaguely remember Truman and definitely remember Ike.

36 posted on 04/27/2022 11:19:46 AM PDT by matthew fuller (He hits from both sides of the plate. He's amphibious. Yogi Berra )
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To: Monterrosa-24
I'm a Southerner and am in opposition to those that distill the Civil War to just over slavery. I honor those that followed their beliefs with respect to state's rights and fought the oppression of the North. Having said that I also honor those that fought for the North. Grant was an honorable and brilliant man and leader. Read his recently published The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant; The Complete Annotated Edition by John F. Marszalek. The annotations explain the mistakes in the memoirs and also the fallacies of his memories. Still it is worth reading.

To show the ambivalence and uncaring of the North with respect to history, ask yourself, "where is the US Grant Presidential Library"? It was moved to Mississippi State University because up North they didn't give a damn and let his memory go into disarray so his descendants and managers removed it to MSU where people still honor and study history without adding their prejudices and false beliefs. They would move his remains if they could. Just as Lee, Grant was a great American.

37 posted on 04/27/2022 11:22:26 AM PDT by vetvetdoug
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To: Monterrosa-24

Wasn’t Grant the source of “Life is just one goddamn thing after another”?

Now past age 65, I can say he seems to have been correct.


38 posted on 04/27/2022 11:22:50 AM PDT by Paul R. (You know your pullets are dumb if they don't recognize a half Whopper as food!)
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To: READINABLUESTATE
Who’s buried in Grants tomb?

Yikes!! A Groucho Marx, "You Bet Your Life" fan!!
"What color is an orange?"

39 posted on 04/27/2022 11:25:26 AM PDT by Cuttnhorse
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To: rlmorel

Just finished reading Bret Baier’s book on Grant...very good read and a lot of material that was new to me.

I was as impressed with the challenges Grant had in Reconstruction...we almost ended back in armed combat.


40 posted on 04/27/2022 11:33:22 AM PDT by Cuttnhorse
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