The Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant

The Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant

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4.5
(2 Reviews)
The Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant by Ulysses Simpson Grant

Published:

1885

Pages:

693

Downloads:

2,108

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The Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant

By

4.5
(2 Reviews)

Book Excerpt

d for any other democrat for high office after Jackson.

My mother's family lived in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, for several generations. I have little information about her ancestors. Her family took no interest in genealogy, so that my grandfather, who died when I was sixteen years old, knew only back to his grandfather. On the other side, my father took a great interest in the subject, and in his researches, he found that there was an entailed estate in Windsor, Connecticut, belonging to the family, to which his nephew, Lawson Grant --still living--was the heir. He was so much interested in the subject that he got his nephew to empower him to act in the matter, and in 1832 or 1833, when I was a boy ten or eleven years old, he went to Windsor, proved the title beyond dispute, and perfected the claim of the owners for a consideration--three thousand dollars, I think. I remember the circumstance well, and remember, too, hearing him say on his return that he found some widows living on the property

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The Memoirs of Grant are a well written and pleasant to read. In some places the campaigns were described in more detail than I was interested, but I learned a lot about the civil war and it's time.
Grant is a very personable writer with a wonderfully wry and sometimes very dry wit. In his Memoirs, written for the purpose of saving his family from destitution while he was dying of throat cancer, he offers insightful glimpses into the personalities of many of the leaders of the Civil War, North and South - both great and little known - with whom he was acquainted. His descriptions of campaigns, the attendant logistics, successes and failures are not only concise, but designed to give a clear picture of his thinking both before, during and after each battle or campaign.

A modest man, Grant does not take full credit for his great successes. He also offers up amusing annecdotes which do not always put him in the best light. Most importantly, he speaks to the reader directly and with surprising honesty. It is no wonder after reading this book that it became an instant bestseller in its day and did indeed save his family from a life of poverty after his death.