Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph Over Adversity, 1822-1865.  By Brooks D. Simpson.  (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000.  Pp. xix, 544.)

            Brooks D. Simpson’s biography of Ulysses S. Grant is an important reexamination of the Union army’s most successful Civil War general that seeks to reshape some of the traditional opinions about Grant.  A fair and balanced representation of the man, Simpson neither praises nor condemns Grant unduly, but rather portrays him as a complex character with both strengths and flaws.  Simpson traces Grant’s life from his birth in 1822 until the period immediately after the end of the Civil War, with the bulk of the book emphasizing Grant’s military efforts during the war.  Simpson thus defines grant according to his most memorable and definitive moments, noting that the legacies of generals are established according to what they do rather than what they think or propose.  Simpson suggests that Grant’s defining characteristic was his ability to deal with and triumph over adverse and troubling circumstances.  It was this skill that made him a successful general during the Civil War.

            Although the bulk of the biography focuses upon Grant’s involvement in the Civil War, the first several chapters contain important information about Grant’s early life.  These chapters demonstrate that many of the important themes of Grant’s life began to manifest themselves while he was still quite young.  For instance, as early as age two it became clear that Grant was a gifted horseman and was at ease during life-threatening situations.  At the same time, Simpson explains Grant’s problems with self-doubts and depression by discussing his troubled relationship with his father.  Simpson’s description of Grant’s activities in the U.S.-Mexican War demonstrate how Grant thrived during times of war, while his peacetime struggles with depression in Oregon Territory helped to explain Grant’s noted alcoholism by contextualizing it within the context of Grant’s long absence from his wife Julia while stationed in Oregon during the early 1850s.  Although Simpson is unapologetic on the matter of Grant’s struggles with alcohol, he likewise explains that accusations of Grant’s alcoholism were often exaggerated and were used by envious generals to try to supplant Grant’s growing prestige and popularity as a commander during the Civil War.  Accordingly, descriptions and condemnations of Grant’s alcoholism ought to be tempered by the context of the circumstances surrounding the problem.

            Among the most important contributions of this book is Simpson’s use of the primary sources.  As with most Grant biographers, Simpson utilizes Grant’s memoirs as an important source of autobiographical information.  In addition to these memoirs, however, he relies upon Grant’s letters to his family, particularly those sent to his wife Julia.  While Grant’s memoirs are a generally straightforward and unemotional account of his wartime activities, his letters to Julia cast him in a new light and show his propensity for kindness and genuine emotion.  These letters also do much to counteract the frequent portrayals of Grant as a “butcher” who held little esteem for the lives of the men who fought under his command. Whereas some suggested that Grant took joy in war, Simpson carefully demonstrates that Grant viewed the war and the accompanying losses in human life as tragic necessities to preserve the Union.  Thus, while it is clear that Grant’s strategy involved unrelenting attacks upon the Confederacy leading to the heavy losses at Shiloh, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg, Grant was anything but callous and remorseless about the deaths of his men.

Simpson’s biography is an important contribution to our understanding of Ulysses S. Grant.  Simpson transcends the polemical interpretations of Grant by providing important contextual information to Grant’s notable failures—such as his alcoholism—while at the same time acknowledging that Grant occasionally bungled even some of his most memorable achievements—such as his momentous victory at Shiloh.  Thus Simpson has given us a nuanced and sophisticated view of Grant that will stand as a definitive treatment of the man for years to come.

Brett Dowdle

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph Over Adversity, 1822-1865.  By Brooks D. Simpson.  (New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000)

Brooks D. Simpson’s, Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph Over Adversity, 1822-1865, provides the best biographical sketch of this Union general’s military career.  The first of a tentative two volume biography, this episode examines Grant’s humble birth in 1822 and concludes with Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox in 1865.  Although Simpson clearly admires the general, the author provides the first objective look at this Union commander. 

            Simpson begins with Grant’s early life tracing his career through the United States Military Academy at West Point and the Mexican War.  According to Simpson, the Mexican War taught Grant important military lessons that he later implemented during the Civil War.  For example, Grant learned the art of maneuver and the importance of logistics (Simpson, 45-46).  Subsequently, Grant married his pre-war sweetheart Julia Dent.  Unfortunately, the U.S. Army stationed the young Ulysses in California.  Grant, lonely without his family and unable to hold his liquor, engaged in some minor duels with the bottle.  Rumors began to surface about Grant’s drinking that would haunt him for the rest of his life.  Simpson insists throughout the book that only a modicum of truth ever existed in these accusations. Nevertheless, Grant’s drinking became the primary target of his enemies; critics attacked his sobriety anytime the general encountered setbacks. 

            The majority of the book examines Grant’s Civil War career.  After his posting in California, Grant engaged in a number of failed business endeavors.  When the Confederates fired on Fort Sumter, Grant was grudgingly working as a clerk in his father’s general store in Galena, Illinois.  He eventually secured a Colonelcy in an Illinois regiment and advanced through the ranks as the war escalated.  Simpson goes on to follow Grant’s movements throughout the war describing each engagement as a learning experience.  For example, Grant’s counterattack on the second day at the Battle of Shiloh invoked the lessons that he had learned in northern Tennessee.   At Fort Donelson, “the battle had been determined at just such a point of mutual exhaustion: whichever side attacked first would carry the field” (Simpson, 134).  Ergo, on the second day at Shiloh, Grant seized the initiative, attacked, and drove the Confederates from the field.  Ulysses continually evolved throughout his career and thus, in 1864, Robert E. Lee faced a seasoned and evolved Union lieutenant general when Grant arrived in Virginia.  

            Simpson distills the hindsight that plagues many Grant scholars.  For example, most historians emphasize the warm relationship among Abraham Lincoln, William T. Sherman, and Grant.  Although these relationships certainly existed, Simpson points out that they were not inevitable.  For example, while Sherman became Grant’s most loyal wartime friend, he expressed doubts about Grant’s martial abilities early in the war.  Similarly, Lincoln did not recognize Grant’s potential until after the Vicksburg and Chattanooga campaigns (Simpson, 183-244). 

            The author provides a thoughtful analysis of Grant’s performance as general-in-chief of all Union forces.  Grant became the first Union general to devise a grand strategy since Winfield Scott’s Anaconda Plan in 1861.  Most significant, Grant successfully executed his strategy, which declared the total annihilation of both the Army of Tennessee and the Army of Northern Virginia, despite numerous setbacks.  Simpson also provides an intelligent analysis of Grant’s role as peacemaker at the end of the campaign in Virginia.  The lenient terms that Grant set before Lee, which provided amnesty for Confederate soldiers and officers, attempted to establish a postwar peace that emphasized forgiveness and reunification (Simpson, 389-453).  Thus, Grant achieved what had eluded his predecessors.  He mobilized the nation’s resources and executed a grand strategy that defeated the Confederacy while adhering to political pressure from Washington (Simpson, 455).

            Simpson caps his book with an excellent analysis of Grants career.  In short, Grant, throughout his life, continuously faced and overcame setbacks.  After juxtaposing Grant’s early life with his Civil War career, it becomes clear that success in the latter reflected the tenacity that he learned in the former.  Yet, mundane obduracy alone does not explain Grant’s military genius.  Ulysses shunned military axioms and, like Napoleon, waged war according to his own creed.  He contained a natural ability to seize and exploit opportunities and never let setbacks deter him from his goals.  In short, “Confidence, flexibility, the ability to improvise in response to circumstances, the composure to remain cool under pressure – these were all the qualities that Grant possessed” (Simpson, 460).  Those interested in Grant’s monumental life should read this book.  It is both accessible for the Civil War neophyte and academic historians will appreciate Simpson’s engaging analysis.        

Texas Christian University                                                                                               Justin S. Solonick