On the anniversary of his death, a re-appraisal of Grant

Ex-President Grant, photographed shortly before his death, struggling to complete his memoirs

Commanding General of the Army and U.S. President Ulysses S Grant died on this day, 130 years ago.

In the currrent issue of Lapham’s Quarterly, historian H.W. Brands reminds us how history is never over, then goes into an interesting, if remarkably left-handed, revision of Grant’s two terms as the American President. He contends that, after 35 years of conservative torches and pitchforks attacks on government, Grant’s time as head of it looks better and better.

We leave that to our betters, but we agree with Brand’s assessment of Grant’s most lasting achievement:

Grant’s death in 1885 and the subsequent publication of his memoir the same year stilled the criticism for a time. Mark Twain favorably compared the book, which dealt mostly with the Civil War, with Julius Caesar’s Commentaries on the Gallic War. Twain’s opinion wasn’t unbiased; he was Grant’s publisher and earned a handsome profit on the project. But the verdict has held up ever since. Nearly every president who turns memoirist claims to take Grant as a model. (Most, including George W. Bush, the latest to channel Grant, fail to appreciate that the model really works only for those who have commanded armies that won a major war.)

We are pleased to have a very nice copy of Volume 2 of Grant’s memoirs available, and at half the previous offering price:

Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, Volume 2 (Charles L. Webster Co., 1st ed., 1886). Hardcover, no dust jacket, green boards with gilt titling and Grant medallion on cover. Tissue guard with frontispiece illustration; 32 engraved illustrations and maps. Good condition; one signature (pp. 275-86) separated from topstitching. HBB price: $75.

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