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BY AND ABOUT ULYSSES S. GRANT
Grant was the 18th President of the United States and the Union's top
general during the Civil War. He also fought in the Mexican War.
Grant on Grant
"The fact is I think I am a verb instead of a personal pronoun. A verb
is anything that signifies to be; to do; or to suffer. I signify all
three."
(An undated note written during
the last days of Grant's excruciatingly painful battle with throat cancer;
quoted in William S. McFeely
Grant.
NY: W.W. Norton & Co., 1982.)
Grant on Abraham Lincoln
"..."I never
heard him abuse an enemy. Some of the cruel things said about
President Lincoln, particularly in the North, used to pierce him to the
heart; but never in my presence did he evince a revengeful disposition."
Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant.
NY: Charles L Webster & Co. 1885, Vol. 2, p. 423
Grant on Leadership Style
"I have now
been in battle with the two leading commanders conducting armies in a
foreign land. General (Zachary) Taylor never wore uniform, but
dressed himself entirely for comfort. He moved about the field
in which he was operating to see through his own eyes the situation.
Often he would be without staff officers, and when he was accompanied by
them there was no prescribed order in which they followed....General
(Charles W. Winfield) Scott was the reverse in all these particulars.
He always wore all the uniform prescribed or allowed by law when he
inspected his lines; word would be sent to all division and brigade
commanders in advance, notifying them of the hour when the commanding
general might be expected. This was done so that all the army
might be under arms to salute their chief as he passed. On these
occasions he wore his dress uniform, cocked hat, aiguillettes, sabre and
spurs,. His staff proper, besides all officers...followed, also in
uniform and in prescribed order. Orders were prepared with great care
and evidently with the view that the should be a history of what followed.
"In their modes of expressing thought, these two generals contrasted quite
as strongly as in their other characteristics. General Scott was
precise in language, cultivated a style peculiarly his own; was proud of his
rhetoric; not averse to speaking of himself, often in the third person, and
he could bestow praise upon the person he was talking about without the
least embarrassment. Taylor was not a conversationalist, but on
paper he could put his meaning so plainly that there could be no mistaking
it. He knew how to express what he wanted to say in the fewest
well-chosen words, but would not sacrifice meaning to the construction of
high-sounding sentences. But with their opposite characteristics
both were great and successful soldiers; both were true, patriotic and
upright in all their dealings. Both were pleasant to serve
under--Taylor was pleasant to serve with. Scott saw more through
the eyes of his staff officers than through his own. His plans were
deliberately prepared, and fully expressed in orders. Taylor saw for
himself, and gave orders to meet the emergency without reference to how they
would read in history." (Grant had great powers when it came to
evaluating leaders. It is clear that he emulated Taylor more than
Scott, though he admired both. GG)
Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant.
NY: Charles L Webster & Co. 1885, Vol. 1, pp. 138, 139
Grant on the Civil War
"I would not have the anniversaries of our victories celebrated, nor those
of our defeats made fast days and spent in humiliation and prayer; but I
would like to see truthful history written. Such history will do
full credit to the courage, endurance and soldierly ability of the American
citizen, no matter what section of the country he hailed from, or in what
ranks he fought....For the present, and so long as there are living
witnesses of the great war of sections, there will be people who will not be
consoled for the loss of a cause which they believed to be holy. As
time passes, people, even of the South, will begin to wonder how it was
possible that their ancestors ever fought for or justified institutions
which acknowledged the right of property in man. "
Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant.
NY: Charles L Webster & Co. 1885, Vol. 1, p.170)
"The right of revolution is an inherent one. When
people are oppressed by their government, it is a natural right they enjoy
to relieve themselves of the oppression, if they are strong enough, either
by withdrawal from it, or by overthrowing it and substituting a government
more acceptable. But any people or part of a people who resort
to this remedy, stake their lives, their property, and every claim for
protection given by citizenship--on the issue. Victory, or the
conditions imposed by the conqueror--must be the result."
Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant.
NY: Charles L Webster & Co. 1885, Vol. 1, p. 219)
Grant on Motivation
"Johnston's army was demoralized by constant
defeat and would hardly have made an offensive movement, even if they could
have been induced to remain on duty. The men of both Lee's and
Johnston's armies were, like their brethren of the North, as brave as men
can be; but no man is so brave that he may not meet such defeats and
disasters as to discourage him and dampen his ardor for any cause, no matter
how just he deems it."
(Grant's account of the military situation following
the fall of Atlanta and Columbia, S.C.;
Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant.
NY: Charles L Webster & Co. 1885, Vol. 2, p. 419)
Grant on Fear
"As we approached the
brow of the hill from which it was expected we could see Harris' camp, and
possibly find his men ready formed to meet us, my heart kept getting higher
and higher until it felt to me as though it was in my throat. I would
have given anything then to have been back in Illinois, but I had not the
moral courage to halt and consider what to do; I kept right on....The troops
were gone. My heart resumed its place. It occurred to me at once
that Harris had been as much afraid of me as I had been of him. This
was a view...I had never taken before; but was one I never forgot
afterwards. From that event to the close of the war, I never
experienced trepidation upon confronting an enemy, though I always felt more
or less anxiety. I never forgot that he had as much reason to fear my
forces as I had his."
(Grant's description of his first engagement in the
Civil War; Grant had
prepared to attack the encampment of the Confederate colonel Thomas Harris,
but found it deserted.
Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant.
NY: Charles L Webster & Co. 1885, Vol. 1, pp. 249, 250.)
Grant on Dueling
"I do not believe I ever would have the courage to fight a duel. If
any man should wrong me to the extent of my being willing to kill him, I
would not be willing to give him the choice of weapons with which it should
be done, and of the time, place, and distance separating us, when I executed
him. If I should do another such a wrong as to justify him in killing
me, I would make any reasonable atonement within my power, if convinced of
wrong done....No doubt a majority of the duels fought have been for want of
moral courage on the part of those engaged to decline."
Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant.
NY: Charles L Webster & Co. 1885, Vol. 1, pp. 58, 59).
Grant on His Personal Habits,
Beliefs, and Superstitions
"I am not aware of ever having
used a profane expletive in my life...."
"One of my superstitions had
always been when I started to go anywhere or do anything, not to turn back,
or stop until the thing intended was accomplished. I have frequently started
to go places where I had never been and to which I did not know the way,
depending upon making inquiries on the road, and if I got past the place
without knowing it, instead of turning back, I would go until a road was
found turning in the right direction, take that, and come in by the other
side."
"The Southern rebellion was
largely the outgrowth of the Mexican War. Nations, like individuals,
are punished for their transgressions. We got our punishment in the
most sanguinary and expensive war of modern times."
(Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant.
NY: Charles L Webster & Co. 1885, Vol. 1, p.56)
Grant on Human Feelings In War
"While a battle is raging one can see his enemy mowed down by the thousand,
or the ten thousand, with great composure; but after the battle these scenes
are distressing, and one is naturally disposed to do as much to alleviate
the suffering of an enemy as a friend." (After the victory at Champion
Hill, Mississippi, General Grant and his staff started out for Vicksburg,
but they had not tents. They spent the night on the porch of a house
that was being used as a Confederate hospital for the wounded and dying who
had been brought from the battlefield. GG.
Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant.
NY: Charles L Webster & Co. 1885, Vol. 1, p. 521)
Grant on Anti-War Activity
“Experience
proves that the man who obstructs a war in which his nation is engaged, no
matter whether right or wrong, occupied no enviable place in life or
history. Better for him, individually, to advocate 'war,
pestilence, and famine,' than to act as obstructionist to a war already
begun."
Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant.
NY: Charles L Webster & Co. 1885, Vol. 1,p. 68.
Grant on Slavery
"...As soon as slavery fired
upon the flag it was felt, we all felt, even those who did not object to
slaves, that slavery must be destroyed. We felt that it was a stain to
the Union that men should be bought and sold like cattle."
Grant's comment to Bismarck on his trip around the
world, in 1878; quoted in
William S. McFeely
Grant.
NY: W.W. Norton & Co., 1982
Keep reading. More pages of powerful
quotes and useful information are listed at the bottom of this page.
William S. McFeely on Grant
"...His whole life was focused
on his mastery of the fact and his 'Memoirs' was its record: war is an act:
to make war is to kill."
"He was consummately modest and quietly confident....It was a primary law
with Grant that he should never in the smallest way appear to be pressing
for honors."
"Grant had a gift given to few men; he could reach ordinary people without
condescending to them."
William S. McFeely
Grant.
NY: W.W. Norton & Co., 1982
James Russell Lowell on Grant
"...the eternal law
That who can saddle Opportunity
Is God's elect"
James Russell Lowell "On a Bust of General Grant"
Charles A. Dana on Grant
"He keeps his own counsel,
padlocks his mouth, while his countenance in battle or repose...indicates
nothing--that is gives no expression of his feelings and no evidence of his
intentions."
(Dana was journalist of the
New York Tribune, and later Assistant Secretary of War.)
James
A. Garfield on Grant
"His imperturbability is
amazing. I am in doubt whether to call it greatness or stupidity."
(Garfield was the 20th
President of the United States.)
William Tecumseh Sherman on Grant
"Grant's whole character was a mystery even to himself--a combination of
strength and weakness not paralleled by any of whom I have read in Ancient
or Modern History...."
(Sherman
fought alongside Grant at Vicksburg and Chattanooga)
The best biography I
have ever seen on Grant is William S. McFeely's "Grant" (W.W. Norton &
Co.). McFeely's book won the Pulitzer Prize. But the best book
on Grant is his own memoirs, written during the last months of his life.
Grant was a splendid writer, and the Memoirs is a compelling account of a
critical period of the American experience. GG
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