This neat little book summarizes the last days of Ulysses S. Grant as he struggled to finish his memoirs to leave an asset to his family while dying of throat cancer. The former President had lost everything financially as he was swindled by a man he trusted and the only thing he could do was to finish his memoirs to provide an income for his family. He succeeded grandly; his finished book brought hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties to his family and his memoirs are considered the best Presidential memoirs in our country's history.
What comes through in this book is that Grant's memoirs are the definitive statement of the Northern view of the war, that the war was all about treason, the South's was not a noble cause, and it was not a mere misunderstanding. It was a fight to the death, and it was about treason.
Modern scholar Joan Waugh has assessed the Memoirs as "a deliberately triumphal narrative of the Civil War written from the viewpoint of the man most closely identified with bringing about Northern victory." P. 124
Lost Cause propagandists were trying in Grant's lifetime to convince the country that the South had won a moral victory after losing the war militarily. The North colluded with them The Northerners finally said, in effect, we won, and that's all that counts. We will never agree on the war's meaning. But the one point that we can concede is that the Confederate soldiers were valiant. We will agree that they were as valiant and sincere as the Yankee soldiers. This was the Northern concession. P. 125
Grant said NO to the South. It was about treason pure and simple.
The Lost Causers took aim at Grant as they had to to keep his view of the war at bay. For the most part they succeeded. Was The South guilty of treason? You don't hear that much today. The Lost Cause mythology won out historically over the last 150 years. If he were living today, Grant would be chagrined to learn that he failed in his memoirs to show the real cause of The War.
Jubal Early and Daniel Harvey Hill spent the rest of their lives after The War trying to tear down the reputation of Grant, and they made considerable headway. The so-called Lost Cause is a terrible phenomenon in American history.
It is important to know that the so-called "Lost Cause" is a manufactured meme constructed to mask the real cause of secession and the Confederacy: to protect slavery and to establish a new country based on the inequality and the inhumane institution of slavery.
One of the Lost Cause smears against Grant is that he was a "butcher," which leads to why the South lost the war. The South didn't lose; it was simply overwhelmed by superior manpower and resources.
Grant refused to defend himself against the charge of "Grant the Butcher." The label was perpetuated by Southern whites in promoting the Lost Cause ideology. Grant and the North were willing to use their overwhelming manpower, regardless of the cost in human lives. The biggest example was Cold Harbor where Grant's charging troops led to horrific casualties. The problem is that Lee was no less guilty than Grant. Picket's Charge at Gettysburg led to greater loss of life than Cold Harbor for Grant. P. 148
Grant's reputation as President has revived in recent years. His view of the Civil War needs revival also.
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