![]() ![]() Both men received high marks from their superiors.Ĥ. Lee was the chief of staff for General Winfield Scott, while Grant served as a regimental quartermaster under General Zachary Taylor. Grant and Lee served in the army during the Mexican War. Lee, was one of West Point’s greatest students and later its commandant.ģ. ![]() Grant wasn’t great at academics and avoided church services, but he was a skilled horseman. Grant was an average student at West Point. But having the name "U.S." Grant him the nickname “Sam”-as in Uncle Sam-among soldiers.Ģ. Truman, the middle initial "S" doesn’t stand for anything. Grant due to a mistake by a benefactor on his application form to West Point. Hiram Ulysses Grant was stuck with the name Ulysses S. Here’s a quick list of 10 interesting Grant facts that put his career in perspective.ġ. But in many recent surveys, Grant has escaped the bottom tier in presidential rankings. Scandal in the Grant administration and the battle over Reconstruction had led historians to rank him as one of the three worst Presidents. Recently, Grant’s eight years in office have been re-evaluated after receiving poor marks for decades from many historians. Grant was the top commander for the Union side at the end of the Civil War and became the 18th President after Andrew Johnson’s disastrous term. Here is a look at a military leader who later became President in one of the nation’s most troubled decades. But history is wrong! Mo Rocca learns the truth about the man who saved the Union twice.Today marks the birthday of Ulysses Grant, who played a unique role in American history. WEB EXTRA: History has told us that the man who led Union troops to victory in the Civil War was a failure in the Oval Office. Army, then I was twice elected President of the United States.' I think it would have astonished him that he would, in addition to that, have been considered to be one of the great writers in American history." But he still thought, 'It's just an amazing thing that I became the commanding general of the U.S. "And by the time he died he was one of the most famous men in the world. "He was a very modest man, despite the great accomplishment he made, despite the fact that he was the hero of his age in the United States," said Brands. Its success would have surprised no one more than Grant. It was the first published memoir by a president that made an impact." "It was a point of pride that the family clung to for generations - still do, I suppose," said Dietz.īrands called Grant's memoir "the first really successful celebrity memoir in American history. "The memoirs brought in ultimately something like $400,000 in cash, which is millions and millions of dollars today," said Ulysses Grant Dietz, the general's great-great grandson. The family was saved from financial ruin. How admired was Grant? Two of the pallbearers at his funeral were former Confederate generals.Īs for the memoir? At more than 600 pages, it was a runaway bestseller. Flower arrangements, encased in bee's wax, have been there for 127 years - mementos of the outpouring of grief that came from every part of the country. Fred Grant, at the moment doctors said President Grant had breathed his last: eight minutes after eight o'clock, July 23, 1885. Welch showed Rocca a clock that was stopped by Grant's son, Col. It's a remarkable feat of writing."Īnd one he finished only days before dying. "When Grant says that he could write 10,000 words in a day, and the words hardly needed any revising at all, you know, I and other writers are just sort of put to shame by this. "He discovered that he really did have a facility for it," said Brands. Grant was in too much pain to talk to his family or visitors, so he wrote notes: "I have such difficulty in speaking that I am no company."īut the memoir writing came easier than he may have expected. "That's cocaine, and every year the New York State Department of Parks and Recreation measures this and makes sure that none of it is gone," Welch said. "Is that sediment down there, is that cocaine?" Rocca asked. "It was used to bathe his throat and his tongue, to give him some relief from the pain," Welch explained. Many of his personal effects are still there: his bedclothes, his hairbrush, and of course, his "cocaine water." "He would choke because of his tongue and throat cancer." Welch said the former president would sit with his legs propped up, a pad in front of him. The cottage looks eerily like it did during the five weeks Grant spent here, writing. Welch said Grant had a "mission," that completing his memoir was "the only way he was going to bail out his family from the poverty that he had inflicted on them." "The nation, in a very basic way, held its breath to see who would win this race." ![]() "Everybody in the United States knew that Grant was dying," said Brands. ![]()
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