Review: Grant

Grant by Ron Chernow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow. Ok, Grant is the most underrated president I've read about thus far (I'm reading in chronological order). I'm not saying he's the best, but just the most underrated. I knew he was a stellar general, but the only other things I new about him before were that he had a drinking problem and (I had assumed) was a failure as a president.

"Americans today know little about the terrorism that engulfed the South during Grant's presidency. It has been suppressed by a strange national amnesia. The Klan's ruthless reign is a dark, buried chapter in American history. The Civil War is far better known that its brutal aftermath." (P. 857)

I remember a TV show in the 80s called North and South, which discussed two fictional families, one from the North one from the South, during the civil war. It seems like they could have just discussed Grant's family. He married a Southern belle, in all senses of the word, and her father was a slave owning fervent southern democrat, while Grant's father was extremely anti-slavery. Of course, Grant didn't just fight in the civil war, but was the chief general, so his story is a lot more interesting than the TV show's.

I'm amazed at how quickly the North was ready to appease the South in order to make sure that their reintroduction back into the Union went smoothly. Lincoln didn't want any celebrations in the Northern camp after the treaty signed in Appomattox, he also allowed Confederate commanders to retain sidearms, the farmers to go back to work with their horses, and played Dixieland back at the capitol (saying "It's our country's song now"). All in all a sound strategy, probably, until Johnson went to his extremes I guess.

The sections talking about white mobs killing, lynching and massacring blacks and white republicans right after the war in the South are some of the most maddening things I've read.

On the other hand I was very interested to read about Akerman. A confederate soldier who then turned Republican, served under Grant, and was a whole-hearted defender of reconstruction.
I also sort of want to read more about Ferdinand Ward, the wall-streeter who swindled Grant out of his family's life savings. And apparently Ward's great-grandson has written a biography of him.

Interesting tidbits:
Grant was dead against violence. He said he never looked forward to battle, and apparently couldn't stand to see animals mistreated or hunted.
Grant acted as a go-between between China and Japan during the Ryukyu islands debacle, apparently helping both to come to a peaceable conclusion and avoid war (although Japan still took over the islands, which became Okinawa).

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