In his memoirs, he records an incident that reveals his philosophy. Even in victory, he would be frustrated by subordinates’ failure to pursue the retreating enemy. He always favored activity and forward movement to standing still. Grant didn’t go in much for doctrine, but he brought a relentlessly aggressive approach to warfare. Grant shortly after he became a brigadier general at the beginning of the American Civil War. Grant: An Interactive Map of His Key Civil War Battles That faith was justified by a serendipitous combination of qualities that enabled Grant to become one of the most extraordinary military leaders in American history.ĮXPLORE: Ulysses S. Sherman doubted Grant’s “knowledge of grand strategy, and of books of science and history.” He told his friend precisely that in a March 1864 letter, in which he also concluded that Grant’s triumph owed in large measure to his fundamental “common-sense” and to his “chief characteristic,” an unshakeable “faith” in victory. Even his fiercely loyal lieutenant William T. Will you pardon me for asking what the horses of your army have done since the battle of Antietam that fatigue anything?”īy contrast, Grant had never been an enthusiastic student of military art and science. Lincoln grew so frustrated with McClellan’s inaction that he responded to the general’s October 1862 request for more horses with an exasperated telegram: “I have just read your despatch about sore tongued and fatiegued horses. After the Battle of Shiloh, it took the latter almost a month to advance 20 miles south to attack the vital Confederate railroad junction at Corinth, Mississippi. Yet McClellan and Halleck both proved reluctant to take decisive action in the field. READ MORE: The Key Way West Point Prepared Ulysses S. Halleck, the author of Elements of Military Art & Science, was regarded as a master theoretician. In the 1850s, McClellan had studied the Crimean War at first hand as a member of an official delegation of American observers. McClellan, who replaced the aging Scott early in the Civil War, was an able administrator who organized the Army of the Potomac. Winfield Scott, whose experience dated back to the War of 1812, had led the army since 1841. Grant’s predecessors in command of the Union Army were far more accomplished in military art and science. In one of history’s unexpected developments, the military profession Grant “had always disliked,” in the words of his biographer Bruce Catton, ultimately “turned out to be the calling made for him.” How did an ambivalent soldier who had been away from the army for several years-and who had drifted during that interval from one civilian occupation to another in search of elusive success-end up leading a vast force to victory and saving the Union? Ten years before, in April 1854, Captain Grant had submitted his resignation under a cloud. The choice was surprising to many who had known Grant in former days. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia and thus effectively end the Civil War. ![]() After several years of frustration with a parade of unsuitable commanders, the president had finally found the man who would defeat Robert E. ![]() Grant went to Washington, D.C., to receive his commission from Abraham Lincoln as lieutenant-general in command of all the Union armies. Keya Morgan made it his job to not only go through the hundreds of archives, auctions, websites, and catalogs, but also private collections.In March 1864, Ulysses S. Unfortunately in the past 130 years, many of the original photographs of General Grant ended up in private collections, never to been seen by the public again. He explored over 300 archives worldwide and went through thousands of auction catalogs dating back to the 1870s. Unlike most Grant scholars, Keya Morgan went beyond simply searching the obvious archives such as The Library of Congress, The Smithsonian and The National Archives. The book will also illustrate photographs from General Grant’s personal family album. ![]() Some of the images were obtained directly from the Grant family and once belonged to General Grant himself. He is near completion of his monumental work Grant in Photographs: Every Known Photograph, which will include dozens of unpublished and rare images, never before seen by the public. Keya Morgan has devoted over a decade to collecting and cataloging every known photograph of General Ulysses S. For the first time in history there will be a book that will document every known photograph of General Grant.
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