The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant: The Complete Annotated Edition

Ulysses S. Grant

Published by Harvard University Press 2017

The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant

The Complete Annotated Edition

Ulysses S. Grant
Edited by: John F. Marszalek
With contributions by: Frank J. Williams
In collaboration with: David S. Nolen and Louie P. Gallo

https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674981898

Overview
Contents

About this book

This is the first complete annotated edition of Grant’s memoirs, fully representing the great military leader’s thoughts on his life and times through the end of the Civil War—including the antebellum era and the Mexican War—and his invaluable perspective on battlefield decision making. An introduction contextualizes Grant’s life and significance.

Reviews

As the first fully annotated edition of Ulysses S. Grant’s Personal Memoirs, this fine volume leaps straight onto the roster of essential reading for anyone even vaguely interested in Grant and the Civil War. The book is deeply researched, but it introduces its scholarship with a light touch that never interferes with the reader’s enjoyment of Grant’s fluent narrative. John F. Marszalek and the folks at the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library are building a formidable array of books illuminating many aspects of the general’s life.
-- Ron Chernow, author of Grant

A richly annotated new edition… What gives this peculiarly reticent book its power? Above all, authenticity. If Grant’s voice is never confessional, it almost never rings false… Grant’s style is strikingly modern in its economy.
-- T. J. Stiles New York Times

[This] new edition, the most thoroughly annotated ever produced, provides the general reader and scholar alike with detailed access to the general’s early life and military career.
-- David W. Blight New York Review of Books

If Mark Twain called Grant’s Memoirs ‘a great, unique and unapproachable literary masterpiece,’ The Complete Annotated Edition is its ‘unique’ companion. Renowned Civil War historian John Marszalek and his team of editors are owed our gratitude. Their annotated edition will increase appreciation among both longtime admirers and a new generation discovering why Grant is winning his deserved place among American leaders.
-- Ronald C. White, author of American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant

Grant’s style is direct and plain, but it has a kind of quiet music to it, the indescribable quality of an authentic voice. There is a level of intimacy that no amount of confessional writing could guarantee. Grant’s assessment of the Civil War and the decisions that went into its waging is mostly brisk and engaging, but what really compelled me through the book were the psychological insights on nearly every page—both of the prominent men whom Grant encountered and of the masses of people whose desires and fears he recognized, sympathized with, and often exploited. Grant’s ability to be empathetic and ruthless in the span of a few sentences—coolly calculating the costs of losing lives against the benefits of pushing on; testing what Southerners could bear and what would make them break—is consistently on display. Whatever Grant hides in his memoir is less than what he reveals. He was a man who could cringe at the cruelty of a bullfight but was willing to send men into certain slaughter to gain a riverbank, a man who understood both dignity and disgrace.
-- Louisa Thomas New Yorker

Of the many editions of the memoirs, I recommend the annotated edition published by Harvard University Press overseen by John F. Marszalek, director of the U. S. Grant Presidential Library at Mississippi State, for its invaluable notes identifying almost every personage mentioned by Grant, expanding on incidents and events Grant glosses over and even correcting his occasional misstatements.
-- Michael Hiltzik Los Angeles Times

[R]espect for Grant can only be reinforced by reading…The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant. This is the best presidential memoir written, once earning praise from no less than Mark Twain… Grant wrote in a clear and logical style, much as he issued orders, which brings the day-to-day challenges and tremors of war to his readership with never a suggestion of embellishment.
-- Stephen Loosley The Australian

A brilliant new annotated version.
-- Steve Donoghue Open Letters Monthly

The Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant provides leadership lessons that can be obtained nowhere else…Ulysses Grant in his Memoirs gives us a unique glimpse of someone who found that the habit of reflection could serve as a force multiplier for leadership.
-- Thomas E. Ricks Foreign Policy

Ron Chernow’s Grant has been a national bestseller, deservedly so, but we think that the new edition of The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, edited and annotated [by] John F. Marszalek[,] should share that spotlight. Possibly the best presidential memoir written, annotations by Marszalek with David Nolen and Louis Gallo illuminate and contextualize the memoir for the modern reader.
-- Lyn Roberts Literary Hub

[Grant’s] memoirs, presented at last in an impressive scholarly edition by John F. Marszalek, were the fruit of a last triumphant battle…Grant’s own words restore him to the pantheon of great soldier-presidents. He stands alongside Washington, Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt and Eisenhower, a select company to which he has always rightfully belonged.
-- Nigel Jones History Today

A worthy capstone to compliment the now completed thirty-two volume The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant…Marszalek, et. al., have done a thorough job in annotating Grant’s text…Readers of this well-constructed and highly recommended edition of Grant’s Memoirs will not fail to appreciate the man’s modesty, but they should also keep in mind that under that modesty lay a cold-blooded willingness to keep right on.
-- Larry A. Grant Civil War Book Review

The most copious annotated edition of Grant’s indispensable memoirs to date… It’s been said that if you’re going to pick up one memoir of the Civil War, Grant’s is the one to read. Similarly, if you’re going to purchase one of the several annotated editions of his memoirs, this is the collection to own, read, and reread.
-- Library Journal

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xv
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xvii
Editorial Procedure Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xxvii
Abbreviations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xxix
Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
Ancestry - Birth - Boyhood Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	5
West Point - Graduation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	16
Army life - Causes of the Mexican War - Camp Salubrity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	27
Corpus Christi - Mexican Smuggling - Spanish Rule in Mexico - Supplying Transportation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	38
Trip to Austin - Promotion to Full Second Lieutenant - Army of Occupation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	47
Advance of the Army - Crossing the Colorado - The Rio Grande Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	54
The Mexican War - The Battle of Palo Alto - The Battle of Resaca de la Palma - Army of Invasion - General Taylor - Movement on Camargo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	60
Advance on Monterey - The Black Fort - The Battle of Monterey - Surrender of the City Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	70
Political Intrigue - Buena Vista - Movement against Vera Cruz - Siege and Capture of Vera Cruz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	78
March to Jalapa - Battle of Cerro Gordo - Perote - Puebla - Scott and Taylor Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	86
Advance on the City of Mexico - Battle of Contreras - Assault at Churubusco - Negotiations for Peace - Battle of Molino del Rey - Storming of Chapultepec - San Cosme - Evacuation of the City - Halls of the Montezumas Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	95
Promotion to First Lieutenant - Capture of the City of Mexico - The Army - Mexican Soldiers - Peace Negotiations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	111
Treaty of Peace - Mexican Bull Fights - Regimental Quartermaster - Trip to Popocatapetl - Trip to the Caves of Mexico Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	121
Return of the Army - Marriage - Ordered to the Pacific Coast - Crossing the Isthmus - Arrival at San Francisco Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	132
San Francisco - Early California Experiences - Life on the Pacific Coast - Promoted Captain - Flush Times in California Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
Resignation - Private Life - Life at Galena - The Coming Crisis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	146
Outbreak of the Rebellion - Presiding at a Union Meeting - Mustering Officer of State Troops - Lyon at Camp Jackson - Services Tendered to the Government Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	160
Appointed Colonel of the 21st Illinois - Personnel of the Regiment - General Logan - March to Missouri - Movement against Harris at Florida, Mo. - General Pope in Command - Stationed at Mexico, Mo. Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	170
Commissioned Brigadier-General - Command at Ironton, Mo. - Jefferson City - Cape Girardeau - General Prentiss - Seizure of Paducah - Headquarters at Cairo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	179
General Fremont in Command- Movement against Belmont - Battle of Belmont - A Narrow Escape - After the Battle Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	190
General Halleck in Command - Commanding the District of Cairo - Movement on Fort Henry - Capture of Fort Henry Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	198
Investment of Fort Donelson - The Naval Operations - Attack of the Enemy - Assaulting the Works - Surrender of the Fort Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	206
Promoted Major-General of Volunteers - Unoccupied Territory - Advance upon Nashville - Situation of the Troops - Confederate Retreat - Relieved of the Command - Restored to the Command - General Smith Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
The Army at Pittsburg Landing - Injured by a Fall - The Confederate Attack at Shiloh - The First Day’s Fight at Shiloh - General Sherman - Condition of the Army - Close of the First Day’s Fight - The Second Day’s Fight - Retreat and Defeat of the Confederates Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	228
Struck by a Bullet - Precipitate Retreat of the Confederates - Intrenchments at Shiloh - General Buell - General Johnston - Remarks on Shiloh Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	241
Halleck Assumes Command in the Field - The Advance upon Corinth - Occupation of Corinth - The Army Separated Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	253
Headquarters Moved to Memphis - On the Road to Memphis - Escaping Jackson - Complaints and Requests - Halleck Appointed Commander-in-chief - Return to Corinth - Movements of Bragg - Surrender of Clarksville - The Advance upon Chattanooga - Sheridan Colonel of a Michigan Regiment Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	262
Advance of Van Dorn and Price - Price Enters Iuka - Battle of Iuka Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	277
Van Dorn’s Movements - Battle of Corinth - Command of the Department of the Tennessee Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	284
The Campaign against Vicksburg - Employing the Freedmen - Occupation of Holly Springs - Sherman Ordered to Memphis - Sherman’s Movements down the Mississippi - Van Dorn Captures Holly Springs - Collecting Forage and Food Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	291
Headquarters Moved to Holly Springs - General McClernand in Command - Assuming Command at Young’s Point - Operations above Vicksburg - Fortifications about Vicksburg - The Canal - Lake Providence - Operations at Yazoo Pass Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	302
The Bayous West of the Mississippi - Criticisms of the Northern Press - Running the Batteries - Loss of the Indianola - Disposition of the Troops Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	316
Attack on Grand Gulf - Operations below Vicksburg Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	329
Capture of Port Gibson - Grierson’s Raid - Occupation of Grand Gulf - Movement up the Big Black - Battle of Raymond Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	338
Movement against Jackson - Fall of Jackson - Intercepting the Enemy - Battle of Champion’s Hill Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	348
Battle of Black River Bridge - Crossing the Big Black - Investment of Vicksburg - Assaulting the Works Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	362
Siege of Vicksburg Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	368
Johnston’s Movements - Fortifications at Haines’ Bluff - Explosion of the Mine - Explosion of the Second Mine - Preparing for the Assault - The Flag of Truce - Meeting with Pemberton - Negotiations for Surrender - Accepting the Terms - Surrender of Vicksburg Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	379
Retrospect of the Campaign - Sherman’s Movements - Proposed Movement upon Mobile - A Painful Accident - Ordered to Report at Cairo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	394
First Meeting with Secretary Stanton - General Rosecrans - Commanding Military Division of Mississippi - Andrew Johnson’s Address - Arrival at Chattanooga Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	404
Assuming the Command at Chattanooga - Opening a Line of Supplies - Battle of Wauhatchie - On the Picket Line Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	413
Condition of the Army - Rebuilding the Railroad - General Burnside’s Situation - Orders for Battle - Plans for the Attack - Hooker’s Position - Sherman’s Movements Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	422
Preparations for Battle - Thomas Carries the First Line of the Enemy - Sherman Carries Missionary Ridge - Battle of Lookout Mountain - General Hooker’s Fight Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	434
Battle of Chattanooga - A Gallant Charge - Complete Rout of the Enemy - Pursuit of the Confederates - General Bragg - Remarks on Chattanooga Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	443
The Relief of Knoxville - Headquarters Moved to Nashville - Visiting Knoxville - Cipher Dispatches - Withholding Orders Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	452
Operations in Mississippi - Longstreet in East Tennessee - Commissioned Lieutenant-General - Commanding the Armies of the United States - First Interview with President Lincoln Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	464
The Military Situation - Plans for the Campaign - Sheridan Assigned to Command of the Cavalry - Flank Movements - Forrest at Fort Pillow - General Banks’s Expedition - Colonel Mosby - An Incident of the Wilderness Campaign Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	475
Commencement of the Grand Campaign - General Butler’s Position - Sheridan’s First Raid Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	491
Sherman’s Campaign in Georgia - Siege of Atlanta - Death of General McPherson - Attempt to Capture Andersonville - Capture of Atlanta Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	498
Grand Movement of the Army of the Potomac - Crossing the Rapidan - Entering the Wilderness - Battle of the Wilderness Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	510
After the Battle - Telegraph and Signal Service - Movement by the Left Flank Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	531
Battle of Spottsylvania - Hancock’s Position - Assault of Warren’s and Wright’s Corps - Upton Promoted on the Field - Good News from Butler and Sheridan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	539
Hancock’s Assault - Losses of the Confederates - Promotions Recommended - Discomfiture of the Enemy - Ewell’s Attack - Reducing the Artillery Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	546
Movement by the Left Flank - Battle of North Anna - An Incident of the March - Moving on Richmond - South of the Pamunkey - Position of the National Army Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	558
Advance on Cold Harbor - An Anecdote of the War - Battle of Cold Harbor - Correspondence with Lee - Retrospective Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	572
Left Flank Movement across the Chickahominy and James - General Lee - Visit to Butler - The Movement on Petersburg - The Investment of Petersburg Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	582
Raid on the Virginia Central Railroad - Raid on the Weldon Railroad - Early’s Movement upon Washington - Mining the Works before Petersburg - Explosion of the Mine before Petersburg - Campaign in the Shenandoah Valley - Capture of the Weldon Railroad Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	597
Sheridan’s Advance - Visit to Sheridan - Sheridan’s Victory in the Shenandoah - Sheridan’s Ride to Winchester - Close of the Campaign for the Winter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	615
The Campaign in Georgia - Sherman’s March to the Sea - War Anecdotes - The March on Savannah - Investment of Savannah - Capture of Savannah Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	628
The Battle of Franklin - The Battle of Nashville Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	649
Expedition against Fort Fisher - Attack on the Fort - Failure of the Expedition - Second Expedition against the Fort - Capture of Fort Fisher Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	657
Sherman’s March North - Sheridan Ordered to Lynchburg - Canby Ordered to Move against Mobile - Movements of Schofield and Thomas - Capture of Columbia, South Carolina - Sherman in the Carolinas Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	666
Arrival of the Peace Commissioners - Lincoln and the Peace Commissioners - An Anecdote of Mr. Lincoln - The Winter before Petersburg - Sheridan Destroys the Railroad - Gordon Carries the Picket Line - Parke Recaptures the Line - The Battle of White Oak Road Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	679
Interview with Sheridan - Grand Movement of the Army of the Potomac - Sheridan’s Advance on Five Forks - Battle of Five Forks - Parke and Wright Storm the Enemy’s Line - Battles before Petersburg Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	689
The Capture of Petersburg - Meeting President Lincoln in Petersburg - The Capture of Richmond - Pursuing the Enemy - Visit to Sheridan and Meade Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	700
Battle of Sailor’s Creek - Engagement at Farmville - Correspondence with General Lee - Sheridan Intercepts the Enemy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	710
Negotiations at Appomattox - Interview with Lee at McLean’s House - The Terms of Surrender - Lee’s Surrender - Interview with Lee after the Surrender Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	717
Morale of the Two Armies - Relative Conditions of the North and South - President Lincoln Visits Richmond - Arrival at Washington - President Lincoln’s Assassination - President Johnson’s Policy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	728
Sherman and Johnston - Johnston’s Surrender to Sherman - Capture of Mobile - Wilson’s Expedition - Capture of Jefferson Davis - General Thomas’s Qualities - Estimate of General Canby Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	738
The End of the War - The March to Washington - One of Lincoln’s Anecdotes - Grand Review at Washington - Characteristics of Lincoln and Stanton - Estimate of the Different Corps Commanders Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	747
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	756
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	765
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	769

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Pages
- Main content: 940
Keywords: Union Army; U.S. Civil War; American Civil War; Presidential memoir; Battle of Appomattox

eBook

Published: October 16, 2017
ISBN: 9780674981898