He said as much in his preface, “The comments are my own, and show how I saw the matters treated of whether others saw them in the same light or not.”Īs the editorial team worked on the memoirs, certain passages stood out as emblematic of Grant’s personality and his blunt nature when it came to expressing his opinion. After all, the memoirs emphasize Grant’s perspective. It was very important that the editors allow Grant to speak his mind and allow him, unencumbered, to express what he believed. Gallo, began work on an annotated version of The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. It was to that end that I, ably assisted by David S. Therefore, a modern version, edited to explain the details, was absolutely essential if this classic was to remain understandable to a wide audience. But in 2018, of course, all Civil War veterans are long gone, and the average reader has limited knowledge about what Grant was describing. Most of the war’s veterans were about 40 years old, and their wives and families were similarly young. After all, in the mid-1880s, the United States was still populated by people who had experienced the war. The contemporary readers of Grant’s memoirs had no problem understanding what he was saying and recognized the names mentioned in the book.

Grant takes a short break from writing his memoirs to read the newspaper on the porch of his cottage atop New York’s Mount McGregor. Near the end: Ever curious about world events, Ulysses S. The publication of such a work would have been extraordinary even if it had been accomplished by a completely healthy man, much less one who was deathly ill. The result of his death-defying determination was the creation of one of the greatest pieces of nonfiction in all of American literature, a memoir that dozens of historians have used as a source to produce studies of the war, and that uncounted people have read for personal enrichment. But the general and president also wanted the world to know his thoughts about the Civil War and his role in the conflict. Grant wrote the memoir in part because he had lost all his money in a financial scandal and hoped the sales of the book would provide income for his wife, Julia, and their children. “There are but few important events in the affairs of men brought about by their own choice.” “Man proposes and God disposes,” he wrote. In terrible pain from throat cancer, hour after hour and day after day he had pushed himself to write his recollections from his cottage atop New York’s Mount McGregor. The hero of war had no way of knowing his final determined act would also make him a literary hero. The sick, aging warrior put down his pen. Vicksburg: Where Grant Learned How to Win the War Grant’s memoirs reveal a man of purpose and opinion Close Writing His Mind: Passages from Ulysses S.

The memoirs of ulysses s grant