Ebook488 pages5 hours
Soldier of Destiny: Slavery, Secession, and the Redemption of Ulysses S. Grant
By John Reeves
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
()
About this ebook
Presenting an original, thought-provoking look at Ulysses S. Grant, Soldier of Destiny evokes the life of the general through his conflicted connection to slavery, allowing readers a clearer understanding of this great American.
Captain Ulysses S. Grant, an obscure army officer who was expelled for alcohol abuse in 1854, rose to become general-in-chief of the United States Army in 1864. What accounts for this astonishing turn-around during this extraordinary decade? Was it destiny? Or was he just an ordinary man, opportunistically benefiting from the turmoil of the Civil War to advance to the highest military rank?
Soldier of Destiny reveals that Grant always possessed the latent abilities of a skilled commander—and he was able to develop these skills out West without the overwhelming pressure faced by more senior commanders in the Eastern theater at the beginning of the Civil War. Grant was a true Westerner himself and it was his experience in the West—before and during the Civil War—that was central to his rise.
From 1861 to 1864, Grant went from being ambivalent about slavery to becoming one of the leading individuals responsible for emancipating the slaves. Before the war, he lived in a pro-slavery community near St. Louis, where there were very few outright abolitionists. During the war, he gradually realized that Emancipation was the only possible outcome of the war that would be consistent with America’s founding values and future prosperity. Soldier of Destiny tells the story of Grant’s connection to slavery in far more detail than has been done in previous biographies.
Grant’s life story is an almost inconceivable tale of redemption within the context of his fraught relationships with his antislavery father and his slaveholding wife. This narrative explores the poverty, inequality, and extraordinary vitality of the American West during a crucial time in our nation’s history. Writers on Grant have tended to overlook his St. Louis years (1854-1860), even though they are essential for understanding his later triumphs.
Walt Whitman described Grant as “a common trader, money-maker, tanner, farmer of Illinois—general for the republic, in its terrific struggle with itself, in the war of attempted secession. Nothing heroic, as the authorities put it—and yet the greatest hero. The gods, the destinies, seem to have concentrated upon him.”
Captain Ulysses S. Grant, an obscure army officer who was expelled for alcohol abuse in 1854, rose to become general-in-chief of the United States Army in 1864. What accounts for this astonishing turn-around during this extraordinary decade? Was it destiny? Or was he just an ordinary man, opportunistically benefiting from the turmoil of the Civil War to advance to the highest military rank?
Soldier of Destiny reveals that Grant always possessed the latent abilities of a skilled commander—and he was able to develop these skills out West without the overwhelming pressure faced by more senior commanders in the Eastern theater at the beginning of the Civil War. Grant was a true Westerner himself and it was his experience in the West—before and during the Civil War—that was central to his rise.
From 1861 to 1864, Grant went from being ambivalent about slavery to becoming one of the leading individuals responsible for emancipating the slaves. Before the war, he lived in a pro-slavery community near St. Louis, where there were very few outright abolitionists. During the war, he gradually realized that Emancipation was the only possible outcome of the war that would be consistent with America’s founding values and future prosperity. Soldier of Destiny tells the story of Grant’s connection to slavery in far more detail than has been done in previous biographies.
Grant’s life story is an almost inconceivable tale of redemption within the context of his fraught relationships with his antislavery father and his slaveholding wife. This narrative explores the poverty, inequality, and extraordinary vitality of the American West during a crucial time in our nation’s history. Writers on Grant have tended to overlook his St. Louis years (1854-1860), even though they are essential for understanding his later triumphs.
Walt Whitman described Grant as “a common trader, money-maker, tanner, farmer of Illinois—general for the republic, in its terrific struggle with itself, in the war of attempted secession. Nothing heroic, as the authorities put it—and yet the greatest hero. The gods, the destinies, seem to have concentrated upon him.”
Author
John Reeves
John Reeves is the author of A Fire in the Wilderness and The Lost Indictment of Robert E. Lee. He has taught European and American history at Lehman College, Bronx Community College, and Southbank University in London. John received an MA in European History from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. You can learn more about him at john-reeves.com. He lives near Washington, DC.
Related to Soldier of Destiny
Related ebooks
A Different Valor: The Story of General Joseph E. Johnston, C.S.A. Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Shiloh: Two Days in Hell: Line of Battle, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Cannons Roar: Fort Sumter and the Start of the Civil War—An Oral History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGeorge Marshall: A Biography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Double V: How Wars, Protest, and Harry Truman Desegregated America’s Military Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJoshua Chamberlain: A Hero's Life and Legacy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5George Washington's Journey: The President Forges a New Nation Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/51759: The Year Britain Became Master of the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of Brad Meltzer & Josh Mensch's The Lincoln Conspiracy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsÉamon de Valera: A Will to Power Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tale Untwisted: General George B. McClellan, the Maryland Campaign, and the Discovery of Lee’s Lost Orders Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLincoln and the Triumph of the Nation: Constitutional Conflict in the American Civil War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jackie Robinson and the Integration of Baseball Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inside the Army of the Potomac: The Civil War Experience of Captain Francis Adams Donaldson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/524 Hours at Balaclava: Voices from the Battlefield Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerica in the Gilded Age: Third Edition Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lincoln at Peoria: The Turning Point Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Republic in the Ranks: Loyalty and Dissent in the Army of the Potomac Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Comparative Evaluation Of British And American Strategy In The Southern Campaign Of 1780-1781 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJane Means Appleton Pierce: U.S. First Lady (1853-1857): Her Family, Life and Times Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerica Goes to War: A Social History of the Continental Army Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hugo Black: The Alabama Years Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Divided Union: A Concise History of the American Civil War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBattle for Europe: How the Duke of Marlborough Masterminded the Defeat of the French at Blenheim Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Prelude to Revolution: The Salem Gunpowder Raid of 1775 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Quaker and the Gamecock: Nathanael Greene, Thomas Sumter, and the Revolutionary War for the Soul of the South Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBorodino Field 1812 and 1941: How Napoleon and Hitler Met Their Matches Outside Moscow Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Military Biographies For You
Seven Pillars of Wisdom (Rediscovered Books): A Triumph Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scars and Stripes: An Unapologetically American Story of Fighting the Taliban, UFC Warriors, and Myself Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Rumor of War: The Classic Vietnam Memoir (40th Anniversary Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Personal Memoirs Of U.s. Grant Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Daily Creativity Journal Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion, and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City: A Diary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of Unbroken: by Laura Hillenbrand | Includes Analysis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe General and the Genius: Groves and Oppenheimer - The Unlikely Partnership that Built the Atom Bomb Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ruby Ridge: The Truth and Tragedy of the Randy Weaver Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Operator: Firing the Shots that Killed Osama bin Laden and My Years as a SEAL Team Warrior Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Helmet for My Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Right Kind of Crazy: My Life as a Navy SEAL, Covert Operative, and Boy Scout from Hell Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To Hell and Back: The Classic Memoir of World War II by America's Most Decorated Soldier Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Napoleon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alexander the Great Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars: The Story of the First American Woman to Command a Space Mission Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A Memoir of Friendship, Loyalty, and War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Outlaw Platoon: Heroes, Renegades, Infidels, and the Brotherhood of War in Afghanistan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mein Kampf: The Original, Accurate, and Complete English Translation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Soldier of Destiny
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Soldier of Destiny - John Reeves
vlne book_preview_excerpt.html }M#Ǒ_1ÌDR#( $6m: Dm߰{v{^fgF)%sZ]UH_~&5:vUTOc?՛&U:*ju\aSǾzsU}݅vXTSkq]UOYTŻt~qj݅}
']TBwO7oPՋ0Gܾ[sEƦ~_unCSЋ}^mǾz-~CnI-YVsmjnawzW7M~_/~q(6A&?`Ziۅs]]Ї7aMG~f Hoc~&a!}mBS_~؆Eu1OՐeVi?`vUb6i_*
kq'+oХvW/߽xo/y5..?ӟ/|g>k>.ctijMcN1%|2]};Ǝ]WC
Y?^'h+__՛](EE-'0`]jyu%ӂ͈m%8ű:t:*'~/:V[ V5~?"
R*uC|/qJ 0
c^4Cp]pm5O>+'h'tH Qj#a>j_7CE7ï Uݯ.=hw7;lV[u۫[uQj##`>gA;.q1#ķO\_W
D5rY77zyMlnKE?U~!j&^Q9>jaܵzo0s2Y DS@ۣ?M=:Ĉ_&SS|0=9̵`[^eC]cP:?wq,~[ꮎ>𫰪7zFNBJR5ݝ]qگ{Gׇ֦W]=