I started tis book, a biography of Ulysses S. Grant, wondering if I should take up my time with it. The author is affiliated with Fox News after all. He connects the 1876 presidential situation with the 1-6-22 situation which are two different things. The 1876 situation was a real presidential election disagreement with potentially disastrous consequences. The 2021 situation was a contrived matter. The winner was clearly the winner. The loser tried to make it appear that the election was stolen from him based on no evidence that this was true. The two situations cannot be compared This book is based on a false equivalence.
I chose to read it as a breezy, brief, review of the life of Grant. It is mostly good on that account.
XIII 1876 and 2021 are two entirely different things.
P. 2- Grant healing the breech? Perhaps Grant receive too much credit intros book.
P. 5- Grant the calm. The author stresses that Grant was always calm in stressful situations.
P. 5-Such monodrama.
P. 9-Greatest American general excepting George Washington.
P. 10-An ordinary man who became extraordinary. Meant to be a solider. Found his place. In any other space he likely would not have achieved greatness. Like me Grant found his ideal profession.
P. 10-An inner focussed man who is an enigma.
P. 11-Rserved/grave/thoughtful/gentle/humble/an enigma even to himself
P, 12-Circumstances make the man.
P. 12-His mother never visited him in the White House.P\
P. 18-Great horseman. Unlike Lincoln he liked farm work.
P. 23-He was lucky to get into West Point. If not how different American history could have been. He did not desire to walk in his father's footsteps as a tanner, a disgusting profession.
P. 24-He learned he was Ulysses S. Grant at the Academy rather than Hiram Ulysses after his mother's maiden name initial Simpson.
P. 25-He graduated 21st in a class of 39
P, 26-No one predicted his future greatness at West Point.
P. 29-Met Julia Dent in Missouri she from a slaveholding family. They both loved to ride. The Dent family believed in benevolent slaveholding.
P. 34-Grant called the Mexican War unjust.
P. 35-His role model was Zachary Taylor.
P. 35-Intrigued by the Texas landscape.
This book is smooth reading but boring.
P. 35-Repelled by his first gunfire.
P. 36-War was a terrifying sight.
P. 40-The Mexican War was a total political war.
Long story made too simplistically short: Reconstruction never had a chance. Lincoln's thoughts such as he had time to think about Reconstruction before his untimely death were hopelessly naive as were the peacekeeping efforts of Grant and others solving the disputed presidential election of 1876 effectively turning the South back over to the locals who were responsible for starting the war in the first place. It was time to send the troops on Southern soil back home because politically the occupation could no longer be sustained. The attempted Reconstruction though including the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments never had a chance. Fast forward to the modern civil rights movement starting in the 50's.
P. 41-Gen. Scott was great.
P. 43-Scott basically conquered Mexico.
P. 44-The US robbed Mexico blind.
After this war Grant went thru his lost years leaving the army returning thru Galena, Illinois when the CW started. 1853-1861
P. 79-Grant became a leader starting in Illinois.
P. 81-Manassas still surprises.
The mystery of Grant is how this taciturn, ordinary acting man achieved greatness. My answer is that he found his calling, that of being a General. Circumstances made him.
P. 82-At Ft. Donelson Grants gets the nickname "Unconditional Surrender Grant."
P. 84-Halleck and Grant did not get along.
P. 87-Sherman was shaken by Shiloh but regained his footing.
P. 89-Shiloh Union dead 13,000. Confederate dead 10,000.
P. 90-You could walk across the battlefield from one dead body to another.
P. 91-Grant was changed by Shiloh. This was an all-out bloodbath.
P. 92-EP freed al slaves? No.
P. 95-The Vicksburg campaign took 5 months.
P. 96-Maybe the best analysis of Grant ever.
P. 97-Son Fred was with his father during the Vicksburg siege.
P. 98- Grant was sickened by the sight of blood---from his son Fred.
P. 124-Lee was fixated on saving Virginia at the expense of everything else.
P. 127-The author calls the 1864 presidential election nonpartisan. :)
P. 131-LIncoln won bigly.
P. 143-"There is nothing left except to go see General Grant." Robert E. Lee
P. 164-Preident Johnson had a demeaning, paternalistic attitude toward blacks.
P. 165-So Johnson was racist. What else is new?
P. 166-Summary of national views on slavery unfortunately.
P. 174-The rapid pace of events during Reconstruction is bewildering.
P. 180-Grant was a moderate not a radical Republican.
P. 181-Grant always seemed to be alone.
P. 182-Perhaps the only man who could have united the country in 1868 but at what price?
P. 183-"Let us have peace."
P. 191-Grant was the youngest President at his election at 46
P. 191 Grant suffered for being naive in politics.
P. 196-He took care of his old military friends. Perhaps overly dependent on military ways.
P. 202-Stiff meeting with Lee. From Appomattox to the White House.
P. 204- Scandals: Grant was naive and suffered from unreliable advisors.
P. 209-Grant and Reconstruction.
P. 210-Impossible goal.
P. 212-Santo Domingo
P. 214-Failure to annex Santo Domingo but 15th Amendment passed.
P. 226-Reconstrution never had a chance.
P. 227-The Panic of 1873 led to 5 yrs. of depression.
P. 228-The Slaughter House case restricted fair trials for blacks in the state courts.
P. 230-Being "redeemed" meant being freed from federal interference.
P. 231-Grant was naive in believing that most Southerners wanted to do the right thing.
P. 236-The scandals of the Grant administrations do not interest me.
P. 238-Bad choice of friends.
P. 243-Hayes was a favorite of the Republicans for the nomination in 1876.
P. 250-The Democratic platform in 1876 was firm on withdrawal from the South.
P. 256-The author uses the term carpetbagger.
P. 266-How tense really was the country after the uncertain election result?
P. 278-Grant signed the Electoral Commission Act on 1/29/77.
P. 293-Grant knew that he could sustain military occupation of the South.
The Wormley Conference hammered out the deal.
P. 293-The legitimacy of that election is still debated by historians today.
P. 306-Grant was serious presidential candidate in 1880.
No comments:
Post a Comment