U.S. Grant and the last year of the Civil War: His name was actually Hiram Ulysses Grant but a clerical error at West Point forever dubbed him U.S. Grant and he finally accepted it.

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U.S. Grant and the last year of the Civil War

Oct 30, 2017 19:12:00 #

Lance Pearson Loc: Viriginia

His name was actually Hiram Ulysses Grant but a clerical error at West Point forever dubbed him U.S. Grant and he finally accepted it. Last year of the war he led it from headquarters at City Point, Hopewell, Va. on the Epps plantation but he did not stay in the plantation house, instead preferring a small log cabin on the property. When the war was ended Lincoln came down and spent a week with Grant and this was two weeks before Lincoln died and he did stay in the vacant Epps Plantation house. You can see the difference in the two. There are some cobblestone roads there and it was at City Point where the James and Appomattox rivers join. In the spring and summer of 1865 that spot on the water would have had 350 ships anchored or coming and going with supplies. His camp there made 15,000 loaves of bread a day for his armies there and in the siege of Petersburg about 15 miles south of there. Lots of history here, Indians, then Colonial, then Civil War...in every direction. All shot with Sony a7 with 35 year old canon fd f 3.5 35-105 mm lens at iso of about 800 on gray, darkish day and most at 1/1000th or so. All manually for shutter opening, speed, iso and focus. You get very used to it again especially with the dot focusing system on the a7 The image of city point where the plantation is is the point on the right extending out into the confluence of the two rivers from the right...taken two miles away.

Grant was a quiet, no artifices man who went out of his way to not have fusses made over him....even getting Lincoln to agree when he was made Union General of all Armies that he would never have to have his hq in DC...in fact, he shared one at Culpepper, va with his second, Meade, the whole time and traveled weekly to update Lincoln who trusted him completely and told him he did not want to know what he was doing, just tell him and congress what he needed. Lincoln and Steward had had to get involved with all the prior generals and neither felt comfortable doing it. Grant got the job because he had caught and killed more men and armies than any man in history by then and their faith in him to end the war proved justified. Grant used his top generals Sherman and Sheridan to cut the west [art of the confederacy and its big army under Johnson off as they marched to the sea which totally cut the ability to supply anything to the east in terms of food, supplies, men, etc.. Meanwhile Grant pushed Lee Relentlessly to Petersburg which was a railroad junction town of 5 railroads which supplied the capitol city, Richmond, then eventually defeated him capturing his Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Courthouse and the South collapsed their succession movement. Horrendously bloody war.

All of this is about 8 or nine miles from my home which was on the high ground over the James between what was Lee's Army (Howlette) and Grant's ((benjamin Beast Butler) and no one fought on our land, just sortied back and forth over it.

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Oct 30, 2017 19:46:36 #

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

To top it off most of his friends called him Sam. His standard uniform was a Regular Army private's coat and pants (both dark blue, the dark coat and light pants were the volunteers) with his general's stars pined on as almost an afterthought, when he bothered with them at all. His favorite riding boots were well worn, scuffed and often needed the mud scrapped off and some polish. He was one of the best horseman to ever attend West Point.
His reputation for drinking and being a drunk came about from a period when he was stationed in California, bored and lonely in a post where they hardly ever did much of anything and his wife and children were a continent away. When some congressman and other people wanted Lincoln to get rid of him because of the reputation as a drunk the President's answer was something on the order of: "Find out what brand he drinks and I'll give a barrel of it to every general in the army, that man fights."

He himself admitted that Lee and his friend Sherman were both more intelligent and better generals overall but Sherman said no one could hold a candle to Grant for knowing how to use his advantages and never giving up. He just kept fighting, no matter what the other guy did. He could lose individual battles but win the campaign because he just kept going forward. One Confederate general is supposed to have said that they had whipped Grant all the way from the Potomac to the James. It didn't matter if Grant won or lost, he kept attacking around the Confederates and they had to retreat to keep him from surrounding them.

Oct 30, 2017 19:52:03 #

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

Yes, Grant was one of the great American Generals. He was also a lower classmate to General Robert E. Lee at the Academy. Grant and Sherman working together saved the Union. And the two had a devotion to each other, even when Grant became President in 1869. Not exactly a smooth Presidency. Thanks for sharing your photos with us. Nice in downloads.

Oct 30, 2017 20:42:11 #