Amen to that. From Grant by Jean Edward Smith: “. . ., on June 7, 1865 a federal grand jury sitting in Norfolk indicted Lee, Johnston, Longstreet, and a host of other Confederate generals for treason.” (Not surprisingly the New York Times began the crusade to try Lee for treason.)Grant was angry about this and reminded people that the terms he imposed at Appomattox “met with the hearty approval of the President at that time, and of the country generally.” But this wasn’t enough for President Johnson who declared he wanted “to make treason odious,” stating that Lee and other rebels had to face punishment. According to Hamlin Garland Grant who rarely lost his temper, was livid. Grant: “I have made certain terms to Lee, the best and only terms. If I had told him and his army that their liberty would be invaded, that they would be open to arrest, trial, and execution for treason, Lee would never have surrendered, and we should have lost many lives in destroying him. My terms of surrender were according to military law, and so long as General Lee observes his parole, I will never consent to his arrest. I will resign the command of the army rather than execute any order to arrest Lee or any of his commanders so long as they obey the law.” Johnson backed down. That’s not only class but magnanimity. Smith’s words are apt: “If Appomattox was Grant’s finest hour, his determination to protect those who surrendered there ranks a close second.” Just so. And lest we forget the late Shelby Foote, a unrepentant rebel, admired Grant and his “four o’clock in the morning courage.” I don’t understand the disdain with which people write about Grant. He was one of the greatest captains in history. He was totally without guile or pretense. There was nothing of the martinet about him. He was as unflappable and imperturbable as any general in history. He deserves better than what’s been written about him. I also find it interesting that John Singleton Mosby and Grant became good friends after the war. Yes, that Mosby, the Gray Ghost, who hung several Union cavalrymen in retaliation for Custer’s doing same to some of Mosby’s partisans. Grant truly meant it when he said, “Let us have peace.”
Fortunately, Grant made the politicians abide by the surrender, or else it would have been a real mess.
As for how folks in the South viewed Grant after the war, perhaps there is a clue in the actions of my gggrandfather who belonged to a Mississippi infantry company that was involved in many battles in the Western Theater, including Vicksburg.
After the war he went home to his farm, got married, and raised a rather large family in the midst of reconstruction. He named one of his sons Ulysses S..
Grant had what many Yankee generals did not have: Honor.
Grant was a lousy president, but I think that’s because he made the fatal mistake of trusting some people he never should have. Had he approached being president with the same mindset and convictions he had conducted the war he would not have been such a failure as president.