Brooks Simpson - Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph Over Adversity, 1822-1865

Books by Brooks D. Simpson

Advice after Appomattox: Letters to Andrew Johnson, 18651866 (with LeRoy P. Graf and John Muldowny)

Let Us Have Peace: Ulysses S. Grant and the Politics of War and Reconstruction, 18611868

The Political Education of Henry Adams

Americas Civil War

Union and Emancipation: Essays on Race and Politics in the Civil War Era (coeditor with David W. Blight)

Think Anew, Act Anew: Abraham Lincoln on Slavery, Freedom, and Union

The Reconstruction Presidents

Shermans Civil War: Selected Correspondence of William T. Sherman, 18601865 (with Jean V. Berlin)

Gettysburg: A Battlefield Guide (with Mark Grimsley)

Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph over Adversity, 18221865

The Collapse of the Confederacy (with Mark Grimsley)

The Civil War in the East: Struggle, Stalemate, and Victory

The Civil War: The First Year Told By Those Who Lived It (with Stephen W. Sears and Aaron Sheehan-Dean)

The Civil War: The Third Year Told By Those Who Lived It

ULYSSES S.

TRIUMPH OVER ADVERSITY, 1822-1865

BROOKS D. SIMPSON

First published in 2000 by Houghton Mifflin. This edition published in 2014 by Zenith Press, an imprint of Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc., 400 First Avenue North, Suite 400, Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA.

Copyright 2000 by Brooks D. Simpson

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Digital edition: 978-1-62788-546-1
Softcover edition: 978-0-76034-696-9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Simpson, Brooks D.

Ulysses S. Grant : triumph over adversity, 1822-1865 / Brooks D. Simpson.

pages cm

First published in 2000 by Houghton Mifflin CompanyT.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-7603-4696-9 (sc)

1. Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson), 1822-1885. 2. PresidentsUnited StatesBiography. 3. GeneralsUnited StatesBiography. 4. United States. ArmyBiography. I. Title.

E672.S614 2014

973.82092dc23

[B]

2014012661

Book design by David Ford

Maps by Jacques Chazaud

Interior photographs courtesy Library of Congress

Cover design by Andrew Brozyna

On the front cover: Portrait of Grant by Alexander Gardner, ca. 1865 On the frontis: General Ulysses S. Grant in military uniform, photographed in 1865 by M. B. Brady & Co. National Photographic Portrait Galleries. Library of Congress

For
Rebecca,
Emily,
and Olivia

I want to thank the people who assisted me at the Huntington Library, the Library of Congress, the National Archives, the Newberry Library, the Chicago Historical Society, the Illinois State Historical Library, the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center, Morris Library (Southern Illinois University), Doheny Library (University of Southern California), Alderman Library (University of Virginia), and Hayden Library (Arizona State University). Thanks also go to my other editors and publishers, who waited patiently for their turn (and in some cases are still waiting): Dan Ross, Fred Woodward, Lew Bateman, and Andrew and Linda Davidson.

Two people with a particular interest in Ulysses S. Grant, John Y. Simon and William S. McFeely, are in some sense partly responsible for this book. Ably assisted by a skilled staff, John is into his fourth decade of editing Grants papers for publication, and the result has eased my labors. At a very early stage in my career Bill took me aside and suggested that the best way for me to say what I wanted to say about Ulysses S. Grant was to write my own book.

In following this advice I have encountered good people who have given generously of their time and of themselves. Terry Winschel reviewed the chapters on Vicksburg; Gordon Rhea shared insights and some of his own work concerning the campaign from the Wilderness to the crossing of the James; Charles Dellheim read the early chapters and helped in many ways during the past several years. Pam Sanfilippo shared with me her research on White Haven, and the whole crew at the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site have been wonderful and welcoming to me in my visits. Also offering assistance and information were Jim Epperson, Chuck Ten Brink, Jeff and Janet Davis, Leah Berkowitz, and Dave Smith, who took me on a tour that included stops at Georgetown and the gravesite of Grants parents.

Mark Grimsley, Candace Scott, and Roger Bridges read the entire manuscript, correcting errors, questioning arguments, and offering useful suggestions and constant encouragement. Thats nothing new for Roger, whos been a boon companion and adviser for a decade. Among those friends who have been especially supportive, I want to thank Joan Cashin, Len and Bill Riedel, Frank Scaturro, Tom Schwartz, Michael Burlingame, Herman Hattaway, Ed Bearss, Al Castel, Trevor Hall, Lew Tambs, Rachel Fuchs, Noel Stowe, David Wilson, Wendy Venet, and Steve Woodworth. Dick Sewell and Al Bogue have continued to be as professional colleagues what they once were as mentors models of what to do and how to do it.

Gerry McCauley has offered me good advice and counsel as we went through the process of contracting with a publisher. Harry Foster has served as my editor and, along with Katie Dillin and especially Liz Duvall, has guided me through the preparation of the manuscript; Charlotte Saikias discerning pencil sharpened my prose and raised good questions; Jacques Chazaud prepared the maps.

For this paperback edition I have Elizabeth Demers to thank. Her hard work and patience did much to see this project through, as did the folks at Zenith/Quarto. As for those close to me, this book could never have been done without the love and support of my parents, who did all they could to foster a young boys interest in American history, whether it was going to museums, visiting battlefields, or buying books. Nor could it have been done without the patient tolerance of my sister, Joy, who had to put up with her brothers interests but always reassures me that she finds them interesting, too. My wife, Cheryl, now knows more about Ulysses S. Grant than she ever cared to discover and made most memorable a trip to White Haven by asking our tour guide if she could see Julias bed, because she was quite curious about the bedpost she named after her Ulysses. Finally, there are my three daughters, Rebecca, Emily, and Olivia, who like anything to do with the Yankees. No father could be prouder than I am of them.