Ron chernow
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Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant
Autobiography of Ulysses S. Grant
The Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant are an autobiography, in two volumes, of Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th President of the United States. The work focuses on his military career during the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War. The volumes were written in the last year of Grant's life, amid increasing pain from terminal throat cancer and against the backdrop of his personal bankruptcy at the hands of an early Ponzi scheme. The set was published by Mark Twain shortly after Grant's death in July 1885.
Twain was a close personal friend of Grant and used his fame and talent to promote the books. Understanding that sales of the book would restore the Grant family's finances and provide for his widow, Twain created a unique marketing system designed to reach millions of veterans with a patriotic appeal just as the famous general's death was being mourned. Ten thousand agents canvassed the North for orders, following a script that Twain had devised. Many were Union veterans dressed in their old uniforms,
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Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant’s ancestors first came to America in 1630, Englishman Mathew Grant landing in Dorchester, Massachusetts.
Grant was always extremely proud of his forebears, but the most important individuals in his lineage were his mother and father.
His father Jesse spent part of his early years living in the home of the father of the famous abolitionist, John Brown. His quiet mother Hannah Simpson Grant came from Pennsylvania parents who were die-hard Jacksonian Democrats. The two married in June of 1821, and their first born, Hiram Ulysses Grant, was born on April 27, 1822. It was only later when the congressman who nominated him for West Point erroneously recorded him as Ulysses S. Grant that he was able to shed the embarrassment of his true initials: H.U.G.
Grant’s father sent him to the United States Military Academy where he graduated 21st out of a class of 39, excelling in mathematics. The last year at West Point he roomed with Frederick Dent the son of a slave-holding family from St. Louis, Missouri. Grant, whose family was opposed to slavery, regul
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Bibliography of works on Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States (1869–1877) following his success as military commander in the American Civil War. Under Grant, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and secession, the war ending with the surrender of Robert E. Lee's army at Appomattox Court House. As president, Grant led the Radical Republicans in their effort to eliminate vestiges of Confederate nationalism and slavery, protect African American citizenship, and pursued Reconstruction in the former Confederate states. In foreign policy, Grant sought to increase American trade and influence, while remaining at peace with the world. Although his Republican Party split in 1872 as reformers denounced him, Grant was easily reelected. During his second term the country's economy was devastated by the Panic of 1873, while investigations exposed corruption scandals in the administration. Although still below average, his reputation among scholars has significantly improved in r
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