A Look Back At Ulysses S. Grant, President And Great Civil War General, On The History Channel

Theodore Roosevelt said that Washington, Lincoln and Grant are the three greatest American heroes. 

Washington was the indispensable man during the War of Independence and the creation of the United States. Lincoln was the great man who led our country during the Civil War and kept us together as a nation. Grant was the great Union general who won the Civil War on the battlefield. 

Grant was one of the greatest generals in history. 

I recently viewed Grant, the three-part miniseries on U.S. Grant on the History Channel. The series, part reenactment with actors and part historians and military people talking about Grant and his life and times, was excellent. 

The History Channel describes the miniseries:

At the time of his death, Ulysses S. Grant was the most famous man in the world and stood alongside men like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln in the pantheon of American heroes. However, today Ulysses S. Grant is largely forgotten, his rightful legacy tarnished by a fog of myth, rumor and falsehood.

Grant tells the remarkable and quintessentially American story of a humble man who overcomes incredible obstacles, rises to the highest ranks of power and saves the nation not once, but twice. With a seamless blend of dramatic scenes, expert commentary and beautifully enhanced archival imagery, this three-part miniseries uncovers the true legacy of the unlikely hero who led the nation during its greatest tests: the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Born into a humble family of abolitionists, Ulysses S. Grant was never destined for greatness. At a time when the nation is being ripped apart over the issue of slavery, Grant marries into a slave-holding family and is forced to confront his own feelings about equality. As the country falls apart around him, Grant bounces from job to job, at one point selling firewood on the streets to buy food for his family. Just a few years later, this quiet, unassuming man is in command of a million men, and it is his ingenious strategy and bulldog determination that wins the Civil War, re-unifies the Nation and helps bring freedom to 4 million former slaves. 

Widely regarded as the greatest general of his generation, Grant is called to duty again to serve as president. In the face of huge obstacles, Grant reunifies a fractured nation, battles the KKK and emerges as a champion of civil rights and equality for all Americans. Grant’s meteoric rise is one of the unlikeliest stories in American history, but it wasn’t luck, it didn’t just happen by accident and it wasn’t easy. With gritty depictions of brutal battles, risky gambles, crushing setbacks and triumphant victories, Grant will take the viewer inside the moments that defined Grant and forever changed our nation. 

You can watch the miniseries via the below link: 

https://www.history.com/shows/grant

Note: To learn more about U.S. Grant I recommend Ron Chernow's Grant.

My Washington Times Review Of 'Lincoln's Spies: Their Secret War To Save A Nation'

The Washington Times published my review of Lincoln’s Spies: Their Secret War To Save a Nation:

Much has been written about the Civil War and students of military history know much about the great battles and the generals who led and fought those bloody battles.

But perhaps less well known are the Civil War spies who fed those generals the intelligence they required to engage their enemy. Douglas Waller, a former reporter for Time magazine and Newsweek, and the author of “The Commandos: The Inside Story of America’s Secret Soldiers,” “Wild Bill Donovan: The Spymaster Who Created the OSS and Modern American Espionage” and other books on intelligence and the military, offers a comprehensive look back at the men and women who risked their lives to provide vital intelligence to the Union Army during the Civil War.      

In Mr. Waller’s “Lincoln’s Spies: Their Secret War to Save a Nation,” readers learn about the Civil War’s military intelligence officers, counter-intelligence officers, secret agents and informants. Although there are numerous historical characters portrayed in the book, Mr. Waller stated he wanted to write an ensemble biography of four Union spies during the Civil War. According to Mr. Waller, two of the spies were heroes, one was a failure and one was a scoundrel.

“Lincoln’s Spies” is the story of Allan Pinkerton, Lafayette Baker, George Sharpe and Elizabeth Van Lew — important Union agents who operated mainly in the Civil War’s Eastern Theater, which included Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia. The U.S. government, of course, ran intelligence operations elsewhere — against Confederates in the Deep South and the western campaigns, for example, and to root out pro-Confederate subversives in the northeastern and northwestern states. To cover all the spying that went on in the Civil War would consume several volumes,” Mr. Waller writes in his note to readers.

“This book focuses on the espionage and counter-espionage of these four operatives in what became a crucial region for the war. The Eastern Theater, in which these agents fought in secret and the Union Army of the Potomac battled the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the open, included the capitals for the two belligerents, Washington and Richmond. On its fields and in its towns and cities were waged many of the largest, costliest, and most consequential battles, which helped determine the outcome of this tragic conflict and the fate of a nation.”

You can read the rest of the review via the below link:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/sep/12/book-review-lincolns-spies/

Crucible Of Command: Usysses S. Grant And Robert E. Lee - The War They Fought, The Peace They Forged

Veteran journalist and author Joseph C. Goulden offers a good review in the Washington Times of William C. Davis' Crucible of Command: Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee - The War They Fought, The Peace They Forged.

For serious historians of the Civil War, William C. Davis is the ultimate go-to source for reliable information on a conflict that spawned a staggering amount of mythology. He is the author of more than 50 books on the war and the South, and until recently was director of the Virginia Center for Civil War History at Virginia Tech.

At hand is a thick — and very readable — volume that culminates a life of serious research into all aspects of the war, including personalities, strategies and politics. Mr. Davis, fortunately for all of us, is a stickler for original and contemporaneous sources, rather than long-after-the-fact memoirs. And, indeed, the chapter notes (112 pages of them) should be read along with the text.

An example: The popular depiction in “history” of Gen. Ulysses Grant as a drunk? After studious research, Mr. Davis concludes, “This is all based on a considerable array of mythology, and virtually no contemporary evidence.” Previous biographers relied on 60-year-old “recollections.” One so-called source was an officer who was “dismissed from the service in 1863 for disloyalty,” and vainly pleaded with Grant for reinstatement. Mr. Davis also demolishes a sensational story in the Union press that Gen. Robert E. Lee personally horsewhipped a runaway slave woman.

You can read the rest of the review via the below link:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/apr/20/book-review-crucible-of-command-ulysses-s-grand-an/  

Happy Birthday To Abraham Lincoln, One Of America's Greatest Presidents

In honor of Abraham Lincoln's birthday, National Review offers a slideshow featuring photos and paintings of the great president.

To Commenorate Lincoln's birth and his pivotal role in fighting to preserve the survival of the nation during the epochal struggles of the Civil War, we look back at his most stirring and influential words as president, the Gettsburg Address.

You can view the slideshow via the below link:

http://www.nationalreview.com/slideshows/364286?slide=0