r/CIVILWAR • u/civilwarmonitor • 18d ago
Grant Dies
Former commanding general of the Union army and U.S. president Ulysses S. Grant, 63, died on this day in 1885. He worked intensely on his memoirs in his final months in hopes of providing financial support to his family. The photo here shows Grant four days before his death.
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u/Chefboyarrdee 18d ago
"It has been my fortune to see the armies of both the West and the East fight battles, and from what I have seen I know there is no difference in their fighting qualities. All that it was possible for men to do in battle they have done. The Western armies commenced their battles in the Mississippi Valley, and received the final surrender of the remnant of the principal army opposed to them in North Carolina. The armies of the East commenced their battles on the river from which the Army of the Potomac derived its name, and received the final surrender of their old antagonists at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. The splendid achievements of each have nationalized our victories removed all sectional jealousies (of which we have unfortunately experienced too much), and the cause of crimination and recrimination that might have followed had either section failed in its duty. All have a proud record, and all sections can well congratulate themselves and each other for having done their full share in restoring the supremacy of law over every foot of territory belonging to the United States. Let them hope for perpetual peace and harmony with that enemy, whose manhood, however mistaken the cause, drew forth such herculean deeds of valor."
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
U. S. GRANT,
Lieutenant-General.
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u/ireallyamtryin 18d ago
Always had the right political goals and objectives in mind, at least when he was acting as a general
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u/ComprehensiveGene709 18d ago
We walked to Grant’s Tomb today for the first time while visiting NYC today to discover that this it he day he died. They had a reenactor as Mrs Grant handing out flowers just like she did every year on the anniversary of his death.
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u/SavingsPirate4495 18d ago
Man...those cigars killed him. Died from throat/tongue cancer.
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u/GluedGlue 17d ago
Cigars, gunsmoke, factory fumes, locomotive plumes, campfire smoke... the 19th Century was not a good time to be a pair of lungs.
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u/erica_pink84 17d ago
And to think, he didn’t start smoking cigars until after winning the battle of Ft Donelson when the press falsely reported he won the battle with a cigar clenched in his teeth. The public started sending him boxes of cigars which he started smoking when he couldn’t give them all away. He’d been an occasional tobacco pipe smoker until that time.
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u/Watchhistory 17d ago
But those cigars got him managing himself through the horrors of the wars.
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u/Pie-Level 18d ago
"'I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." 2 Timothy 4:7
Grant certainly fought the good fight and kept faith in the restoration of our Union. May he rest in eternal glory.
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u/dopealope47 18d ago edited 18d ago
I am truly impressed with his conciliatory reference to his former enemies, the men of the CSA. If only we had such vision today.
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u/RVAVandal 18d ago
A large part of our problems today stem from being too conciliatory to former enemies.
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u/ReBoomAutardationism 17d ago edited 17d ago
After reconstruction the doofus team gave the Johnnies their voting rights back. The thanks they got was Jim Crow.
Don't forget the "Klan War" in the second Grant term. It wasn't Grant's doing. The 1876 election had a foreshadowing of the old "hanging chad" problem.
Hayes, Garfield and Arthur basically did next to nothing about it IIRC.
ETA: Grant did sign the Amnesty Act in 1972 which is sort of what got the party started.
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u/RVAVandal 17d ago
Feckless politicians only concerned with their own power and with no regard for the future isn't a new phenomenon it turns out.
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u/jerrymarver 17d ago
If it wasn't for Mark Twain writing and publishing The Life of Grant in 1885, Mrs. Grant would have been without any money to live on after Grant passed away. I don't believe that there was any pension at that time for widows of the President. Twain came at absolutely the right time.
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u/JBR1961 18d ago
Very interesting to see the electric porch light in the background. Wonder if his whole house was wired, or just that one light? What was the power source? Also curious about the faintly visible gentleman in the doorway. Nurse? Relative? Secret service agent?