I don't give a rat's ass about Grant, but that line needs to saved somewhere under the heading of Greatest One Line Put-downs.
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Grant kicked your a@@ and you "Unreconstructed Rebs" have never gotten over it.
Remember, he beat the South and he whipped Bobby Lee.
And he's the only reason that Bobby Lee wasn't tried for treason and hung in public.
Grant is the man that put his honor on the line, to defend Lee and the southern high-command from being tried for treason by the Johnson administration.
Lee had already been indicted by a Federal Grand Jury and it was only Grant's direct intervention that stopped Lee from being arrested, tried and hung.
So remember that when you see to demean the man.
It always amuses me that southerners feel the need to reinforce their bruised pride at having been whipped, by demeaning the man who whipped them as a "drunk".
Is it better to believe that you were whipped by a great general who was a brilliant strategist, or is it better to believe that you were whipped by a besotted drunkard? What does that say for your southern pride?
Do you think you elevate your side by demeaning the other?
Here's Lee's own words when someone at Washington College attempted to demean Grant in his presence:
"Sir, if you ever again presume to speak disrespectfully of General Grant in my presence, either you or I will sever his connection with this University."
And here's Robert E. Lee's words about Grant when someone suggested Grant was a "military accident" who had only won due to amassing overwhelming numbers:
"Sir, your opinion is a very poor compliment to me. We all thought Richmond protected, as it was, by our splendid fortifications and defended by our army of veterans, and could not be taken. Yet Grant turned his face to our capital and never turned it away until we had surrendered. Now, I have carefully searched the military records of both ancient and modern history, and have never found Grant's superior as a general. I doubt his superior can be found in all history."
Just get over it. Grant wasn't a drunk, and he whipped your Rebel behinds blue. He gave you a thorough whipping, your behind's still smart from it, and you have never gotten over it.
He won, you lost, and you lost to one of the most brilliant General's in history.
Read J.F.C. Fuller's "Grant and Lee" for a thorough understanding of the difference between the two men, and why Lee lost to Grant.