Thank you, robou, and thanks to all of you who took the time to wish me well. I'm suffering through some serious personal problems right now, and your good wishes are sincerely appreciated.
I recommend Grant's 'Personal Memoirs' to anyone with an interest in military history. It is clear, clean, relatively evenhanded and has been called the best military memoir since Julius Caesar explained the 3-part nature of Gaul. Grant was dead broke and dying of throat cancer when he wrote it. His friend Mark Twain set up a deal with the publisher, promising an annuity for Grant's wife and children in exchange for the memoir. Grant was in great pain, but he finished it and immediately died. The passages on the Mexican War, on his journey to California, and of course on the Civil War, are amazingly well-written and easy to follow.
I'd always heard he was a drunk - not true - and a butcher - also false, as anyone who studies his campaigns can see. He never possessed the grace and charm of Lee or the furious battle instinct of Jackson, but he was never intimidated, never stunned, and almost always victorious. The challenge in getting my conception of Grant on paper is that he was not given to pomp or show, rarely spoke on public occasions and had no personal warmth. What he could do was organize, train and
use the men in his command, better than almost anyone else on the Union side.
Still, I like him and respect him. Without him the war might not have been winnable, or won at such length and at such cost as to permanently cripple the country. For Belmont, Forts Henry and Donelson, Shiloh, Vicksburg, Chattanooga and the Overland Campaign, and for the surrender of three Confederate Armies, we are in his debt. He did his part - and more - to preserve the Union.
Lastly, I thank all of you who have taken the time to read
and comment in 'A Special Providence'. If you haven't read the whole thing, try out the last few posts. There is always room for a few more readers.