My respect for Grant grew even more after I read volume one of his beautifully written memoirs. When a friend recommended The General's Wife: The Life of Mrs. Ulysses S Grant, I downloaded the Kindle version and was pleased it covered as much, if not more, about US Grant as it did his wife, Julia Dent Grant.
The author reiterated much of which I knew about Grant, his humility, and his failures at just about everything in his early adult years with the exception of the one job he disliked—being a soldier. The book goes in-depth about his personal and family life. I learned he loved his family and often had them at his camp during the war, and that prior to that time, his father viewed him as a failure and often let him know it. However, once “Ulys” became a general, the man couldn’t brag about his son enough.
I'd always heard Grant was an alcoholic, but that may not be accurate. Several men accused him of intemperance, but those closest to him reported he rarely touched alcohol. On each account mentioned in the book, he was cleared of the accusations.
On the subject of journalists, he disliked them as they often twisted the truth, rarely in his favor. He suffered from migraines and had one shortly before Lee surrendered. It doesn’t appear he was a man of faith, but that only means the author didn’t say one way or the other. I hope he was. I'd love to meet him in heaven.
And yes, the book talks about Julia Dent Grant as well. Though she was plain looking, as the author pointed out, Ulysses adored her as much as she adored him, regardless of their wealth, or lack thereof, or situation. She was a bright, capable woman who stood by Grant's side, even during the battle of Vicksburg, some action of which she witnessed. A good book about an extraordinary man.
