Grant Ulysses Simpson - Grants final victory : Ulysses S. Grants heroic last year

GRANTS FINAL VICTORY

CHARLES BRACELEN FLOOD

DA CAPO PRESS

A Member of the Perseus Books Group

Copyright 2011 by Charles Bracelen Flood

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Designed by Brent Wilcox

Set in 11.5 point Janson Text by The Perseus Books Group

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Flood, Charles Bracelen.

Grants final victory: Ulysses S. Grants heroic last year / Charles

Bracelen Flood. 1st Da Capo Press ed.
p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-306-82028-1 (hardcover: alk. paper)

ISBN 978-0-306-82056-4 (e-book)

1. Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson), 18221885Last years. 2. PresidentsUnited StatesBiography. 3. GeneralsUnited States
Biography. 4. United States. ArmyBiography. I. Title.

E672.F56 2011

973.82092dc23

[B]

2011020263

First Da Capo Press edition 2011

Published by Da Capo Press

A Member of the Perseus Books Group

www.dacapopress.com

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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To

THOMAS FLEMING

SIDNEY OFFIT

EDWARD PULLIAM

DWIGHT TAYLOR

Valued Companions in This and Our

Other Voyages Through the

Life of the Mind

I know two tunes. One is Yankee Doodle, and the other isnt.

___________

GRANT

describing his tone-deafness.

He worked on and on in his labor of love, his health gradually failing.

___________

GRANTS WIDOW, JULIA DENT GRANT

describing the months in which her husband worked on his personal memoirs in his race with cancer to finish the book that would provide money for her after his death.

It will be a thousand years before Grants character is fully appreciated.

___________

GENERAL WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN

speaking of Grant in September 1885,
two months after his death.

As we look back with keener wisdom into the nations past, mightiest among the mighty dead loom the figures of Washington, Lincoln, and Grant... these three greatest men have taken their place among the great men of all nations, the great men of all time. They stood supreme in the two greatest crises of our history, on the two great occasions when we stood in the van of humanity and struck the two most effective blows that have ever been struck for human freedom under the law.

___________

THEODORE ROOSEVELT, 1900

I, his wife, rested in and was warmed in the sunlight of his loyal love and great fame, and now, even though his beautiful life has gone out, it is as if when some far-off planet disappears from the heavens; the light of his glorious fame still reaches out to me, falls upon me, and warms me.

___________

JULIA DENT GRANT

Of the many persons I have to thank, foremost is my wife, Kathy. She has stood by me in every way, often using her own excellent knowledge of history and feeling for language in reading many passages in the manuscript phase. My daughter Lucy, herself a writer, has added many pertinent suggestions, as has my sister, Mary Ellen Reese, the author of several books, who sketched out for me an improved approach to opening this book. My son Caperton, a business consultant, clarified certain nineteenth century financial business practices, and my son Curtis was immensely helpful during a research trip to the Grant Cottage at Mt. McGregor, New York.

Before turning to the many other sources from which I have received help, I wish to single out the constant efficient assistance and encouragement I have received from Carol Tudor Thomas, of the Government Documents division of the Crabbe Library at Eastern Kentucky University. For the third book in a row, she has kept track of the myriad odds and ends involved in a project of this nature, taking home hundreds of hours of work she has done on her own time. She also keeps me in touch with the library when I am away from it on research trips or on vacation. I will have much to say about the contributions made by other members of the staff of this really splendid, patron-friendly library, but this kind of assistance was begun several years ago by Linda Sizemore, the team leader of Government Documents, who remains supportive of my efforts.

For many years I have relied on the judgment and encyclopedic knowledge of my friend Thomas Fleming, author of some forty books of history and biography. As I developed this book, he pointed out a number of facts about the later life of Ulysses S. Grant that added greatly to my understanding of this often underrated figure. His efforts have been paralleled by those of Professor John Marszalek, the W. L. Giles Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at Mississippi State University, who has succeeded the late John Y. Simon as editor of the monumental Papers of Ulysses S. Grant. I feel that Professor Simon would be well pleased with the way in which his marvelous life work has been continued since his untimely death.

Once again, my manuscript has profited by a reading from Edward Pulliam, who combines his instinct for proportion and accuracy in matters large and small with his knowledge of local history, particularly that of the Washington area.

I have taken great pleasure in my longstanding friendship and collegial relationship with Dwight Taylor, who entered my life when I was a freshman at Harvard and he was a dormitory proctor who lived next to me in Matthews Hall. Dwight, returning to complete law school after service in the South Pacific during World War II, had no responsibility for my indifferent grades, but he saw that I was a storyteller. and took an interest in my writing, which at that point consisted of required weekly themes and my fledgling efforts on the Harvard Lampoon. Now here I am, returning to Harvard for my sixtieth reunion, with Dwight, who went on to be a successful corporate lawyer, still sending me important suggestions from his home in San Francisco.

When I moved to Richmond, Kentucky, in 1975, I soon met the late Ernest E. Weyhrauch, Dean of Libraries. Rising from behind his desk in the Crabbe Library, which now houses 800,000 volumes, he greeted me with, Wed like to help you in every way that we can. Ernie was true to his word; we became close friends and his gifted successors have continued a policy of giving me every possible form of cooperation. Now, thirty-six years later, the present dean, Carrie Cooper, is leaving to become Dean of Libraries at William and Mary, a position that speaks for itself. Betina Gardner, the able and experienced Coordinator of Public Services, has been named as Interim Dean.

In a large building that is open seven days a week and has more than sixty people working in it at various hours, there are some individuals I never see, but I know that they also contribute to this extremely efficient librarys success. For the sake of simplicity, I will mention a number of Team Leaders and specialists, and then single out a few of these dedicated staff members, other than those already mentioned, who have been of particular help to me. Julie George, as Reference Team Leader, was able to direct me to many useful volumes, a practice continued by Interim Leader Kevin Jones, who also worked out for me a good analysis and chronology of Church-State relations in the United States, emphasizing Ulysses S. Grants views on the subject. Once again I am indebted to Pat New, whose work in charge of Interlibrary Loan remains remarkable in my eyes: always ahead of me, seeing when I am going to need something more and asking me when I want it to arrive. Pats work is ably supported by her assistant