Yearly Archives: 2016

Grant’s 9:30 a.m. arrival at Pittsburg Landing, April 6, 1862 8 comments

 in Grant / Historiography / Reliability / Shiloh / Time-keeping by

It turns out that I have too kind to General Grant in at least one area. The time of his arrival at Pittsburg Landing—after hearing cannon-fire at his headquarters ten miles downriver in Savannah and boarding his flagship Tigress for the trip upriver—has been a subject of controversy.   Grant and many of his friends and supporters selected earlier-than-actual times (with those of J.F.C. Fuller and William Rowley being absurdly […]

Ulysses S. Grant Launched an Illegal War Against the Plains Indians, Then Lied About It

 in Grant / Presidency / Reliability / Sheridan / Sherman by

Smithsonianmag.com just published an article by Peter Cozzens: Ulysses S. Grant Launched an Illegal War Against the Plains Indians, Then Lied About It The president promised peace with Indians — and covertly hatched the plot that provoked one of the bloodiest conflicts in the West http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ulysses-grant-launched-illegal-war-plains-indians-180960787/?no-ist In this article, Cozzens cogently argues—and his deep-delving research proves it—that modern biographers of Ulysses S. Grant “have either misinterpreted the beginnings of the […]

The unreliability of Horace Porter’s Campaigning with Grant 4 comments

 in Grant / Grant biographies / Historiography / Wilderness by

In Grant Under Fire, I demonstrated how Horace Porter—Ulysses S. Grant’s staffer, friend, and biographer—could not be trusted for a true history of the General in the Overland campaign. Porter’s reverential Campaigning with Grant contained innumerable, implausible justifications and apologies for his chief. It parrots many of the inaccuracies from Grant’s Personal Memoirs. Porter offered a verbatim, 199-word speech by Grant on how he decided to cross the Rapidan downstream […]

Sherman’s 200,000 in Kentucky & bad historiography 2 comments

 in Battles / Chattanooga / Grant / Historiography / Sherman by

After Brigadier-General William T. Sherman took over command of the Department of the Cumberland from General Robert Anderson (of Fort Sumter fame) in 1861, he began to get nervous about his army’s dispositions in Kentucky. Sherman believed that the enemy had superior numbers (or easily could have with a rapid concentration, by utilizing the railroad system). In reality, his Federals outnumbered the Confederates on his front by two to one. […]

Waiting for (Don Carlos) Godot: a tragicomedy in two acts 4 comments

 in Favoritism / Generalship / Grant biographies / McClernand / Sherman / Shiloh by

Of the myriad blunders that needed to be excused or covered up concerning the Battle of Shiloh, one of the most notorious was Ulysses S. Grant’s absence from his army. Maintaining headquarters from approximately March 17th to the start of the battle on April 6th in a mansion at Savannah, Tennessee—ten miles downriver and on the opposite bank from his army at Pittsburg Landing—General Grant took a steamboat up to […]

Ulysses S. Grant hagiographies

 in Grant / Grant biographies by

Ethan Rafuse recently commented about “those who have pushed Grant scholarship to the point where history becomes hagiography.” Now, I have just run across Russell Bonds’ review of H.W. Brands’ “The Man Who Saved the Union.” In it, Bonds noted how the publication of William S. McFeely’s “Grant: A Biography” “sparked a flurry of responses trending toward hagiography. More than a dozen biographies, ‘dual biographies’ and studies of Grant have […]

Errors in U.S. Grant Biographies (Part One: Missionary Ridge) 2 comments

 in Chattanooga / Generalship / Grant / Grant biographies / Grant's Memoirs / Hooker / Reliability / Sheridan / Sherman / Tactics / Thomas by

Although the standard version of Ulysses S. Grant’s war-time history portrays him to be a military genius and a reliable chronicler of the American Civil War, his biographers have exaggerated, distorted, or omitted certain, salient facts. One of the most stark examples of this practice is from the Chattanooga campaign, which featured many of the most famous Union generals: Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman, George H. Thomas, Joseph Hooker, […]

The Historian’s Ten Commandments

 in Historiography by

I can’t vouch for the authenticity of the following, but it’s amusing and of interest nonetheless. The Historian’s Ten Commandments (Revised and Enlarged) Original attributed to William B. Hesseltine (1902-1963) Department of History, The University Of Wisconsin Thou shalt not use the passive voice. Thou shalt not use the present voice. Thou shalt not quote from secondary sources. Thou shalt not quote more than three lines–and never shalt thou use […]

Errors in Grant’s official map for the Battle of Belmont 2 comments

 in Belmont / Historiography / Mapping / McClernand / Reliability by

A close reading of the official reports for the Battle of Belmont indicates that Ulysses S. Grant’s official map, echoed by authors afterward, incorrectly portrayed Jacob Lauman’s move to the right side of the battle line during the engagement. Although this detailed map of the action, which accompanied Grant’s report of the battle, showed Henry Dougherty’s Second Brigade (22nd Illinois and 7th Iowa) moving to the right soon after forming […]

When is a quote on Ulysses S. Grant insufficient for historical purposes? 2 comments

 in Generalship / Historiography / Lee / Longstreet by

Although it assuredly happens all-too-often in histories and biographies, I have run across many seemingly fabricated stories about an heroic Ulysses S. Grant, which have been repeated without regard to the evidentiary background. One of them, concerning Richard Ewell, figures in my book, Grant Under Fire: In regard to Albert Richardson’s anecdote of Ewell’s warning other rebel officers early in the war of one as-yet-undiscovered federal leader whom they should […]

U.S. Grant’s overconfidence turned into a positive virtue 4 comments

 in Belmont / Generalship / Grant biographies / Grant's Memoirs / Henry & Donelson / Wilderness by

An article in the current (online) New Yorker, “Why the leadership industry rules,” Joshua Rothman discusses the concept of a leader. He refers, at one point, to the Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, in which Grant tells a story of himself as a recently commissioned colonel in the Union’s volunteer army. Approaching the presumed location of an enemy camp, Grant related how, “‘My heart kept getting higher and higher, […]

“Grant Under Fire” and “Lincoln’s Autocrat”

 in Book reviews / Grant / Grant Under Fire / Stanton by

Civil War News has finally posted my response to Dr. John Marszalek’s unprofessional and mistake-ridden review of Grant Under Fire. As the Executive Director of the Ulysses S. Grant Association, whose mission it is to “preserve the knowledge of [Ulysses S. Grant’s] importance in American history,” Dr. Marszalek should have recused himself if chosen for this task. Especially if he himself selected Grant Under Fire for a review, his own […]

Log Book of the Civil War Gunboat “Tyler”

 in Military Affairs / Shiloh by

In an auction five years ago, the 1861–62 Log Book of U.S.S. Tyler was sold, as it had been in a previous auction in 2005. As this Civil War Gunboat was engaged in the Battles of Belmont, Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, and Shiloh (the logbook apparently ends sometime in April 1862), a transcription or reproduction of its pages should be of huge interest to many in the American Civil War community. It […]

A response to John F. Marszalek’s review of Grant Under Fire 2 comments

 in Book reviews / Drinking / Grant Under Fire / Historiography / Vicksburg by

I would have hoped that, as Executive Director of the Ulysses S. Grant Association and with 29 years as a professor (and as a Distinguished Professor Emeritus and director of a Distinguished Scholars Program), Dr. John F. Marszalek would have provided an objective, comprehensive, and professional book review or else recused himself for partiality, especially as he charges me with a lack of objectivity and impartiality. He complains that Grant […]

America’s Civil War (March 2016): Review of “Grant Under Fire”

 in Book reviews / Grant biographies / Grant Under Fire / Historiography by

Dr. Ethan Rafuse, in his review from the March 2016 edition of America’s Civil War, offers a good description of Grant Under Fire: An Exposé of Generalship & Character in the American Civil War. It “offers a strident, contrarian take on the union commander, ” he noted, and ”Rose’s book will surely be welcomed by admirers of other Union generals.” In what appears to be a commendation of the research […]

Ulysses Grant’s Intoxication on the Yazoo River—the Contemporary Evidence 7 comments

 in Drinking / Grant / Historiography / Vicksburg by

While the siege of Vicksburg progressed, on June 6, 1863, Major-General Ulysses S. Grant embarked for a boat trip up the Yazoo River to Satartia, Mississippi. Union troops from there and just inland were retreating south along the river. His chief-of-staff, John Rawlins, had written a letter to Grant early that morning. Rawlins thought that Grant had been drinking the night before, and “the lack of your usual promptness of […]

Grant on crutches at Shiloh? 2 comments

 in Grant biographies / Historiography / Reliability / Shiloh by

Although it is a rather common assertion in many biographies of Grant and in battle histories of Shiloh, there seems to be little reliable evidence that the General was using crutches when he boarded Tigress at Savannah on April 6th and debarked to ride around the battlefield. This may be one of the stories which had their genesis in his Personal Memoirs (“As it was, my ankle was very much […]

Bruce Catton’s reliability, Ulysses Grant, and the Battle of Chattanooga 6 comments

 in Chattanooga / Grant / Grant biographies / Historiography / Hooker / Nashville / Sherman / Shiloh / Thomas by

Although Bruce Catton’s books are far better than many others written about the American Civil War, they cannot be said to be free from substantial mistakes. Starting at the bottom of page 295 in the 1956 edition of This Hallowed Ground, Catton outlined General Ulysses Grant’s plan for the battle at Chattanooga: “Grant proposed to hit the two ends of the Confederate line at once. Hooker would strike at Lookout […]

Did General Joe Hooker disrespect Ulysses S. Grant? 2 comments

 in Chattanooga / Favoritism / Grant / Grant biographies / Grant Under Fire / Hancock / Historiography / Rosecrans / Shiloh / Thomas by

Yesterday, I helped confirm one of the many smaller points that Grant Under Fire makes. General Joe Hooker is often criticized for trying it on with his superior, Ulysses S. Grant, on November 21, 1863 at Stevenson, Ala., while the latter was on his way to Chattanooga, Tenn. When Hooker sent a staff officer and wagon to take Grant from the railroad station to Hooker’s headquarters, Grant responded: “If Gen. […]

Directions for Lew Wallace at Shiloh on April 6, 1862 1 comment

 in Grant / Grant Under Fire / Grant's Memoirs / Lew Wallace / Reliability / Sherman / Shiloh by

Although Grant tried to argue that he wanted Lew Wallace merely to march to Pittsburg Landing and had ordered him there, the evidence contradicts him. Even John Rawlins used a different destination while defending Grant and assailing Wallace.The Third Division’s destination was assuredly William Sherman’s right flank. Lew Wallace and four of his subordinates identified the orders’ stated objective as the right of the army, denoting Sherman’s right. Algernon Baxter, […]

National Archives – Lexington log book April 6, 1862, 4 Pages 2 comments

 in Shiloh / Time-keeping by

Here is the log book of U.S.S. Lexington for April 6, 1862, the first day of the Battle of Shiloh. It helps to answer some questions about what happened that day, but raises others. The name of the transport, John Raine, is almost assuredly transcribed incorrectly as John Ramm in the Official Records. Whether the boat actually was John Warner is another question altogether. [All images are from the National […]

Who’s to blame for the Hornets’ Nest surrender at Shiloh? 8 comments

 in Generalship / Grant's Memoirs / Prentiss / Reliability / Shiloh / Tactics by

The valiant stand in the Hornets’ Nest position at Shiloh by Union generals William H.L. Wallace and Benjamin M. Prentiss helped to save the rest of the Union army from ignominious defeat on April 6, 1862. Instead of honoring their achievement, General Ulysses S. Grant offered two implausible assertions in his Personal Memoirs. First, he unjustly cast blame on one of his subordinates for the surrender: “In one of the […]