Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant (1885)
The process of Ulysses S. Grant writing and publishing of his memoirs is, in itself, a reflection of the late 19th century in the United States. The retired general and former president approached the project piecemeal at first, producing essays about his life and career that were fairly well-received by the public, but it was when he and his family met a with a dire financial situation that he was encouraged to produce an authoritative tome depicting his own life and perspectives. That there was a growing marketplace for literature and that a man who had reached the highest ranks of military and political worlds was close to being broke tells us quite a bit about the post-Civil War era. Add on to it that Mark Twain himself, Samuel Clemons, was integral in cajoling the aging and ailing Grant to set in and produce the two volume piece as monetary insurance for both himself and Grant’s family, and we have ourselves a fantastic document of the Gilded Age (another connection to Twain).
As one would imagine, a great deal of the memoirs center around the Civil War. Twenty years after its end the country was still rebuilding itself physically, morally, intellectually and spiritually. There was a great deal of interest from those who had lived through the conflict, and fought in it, to recount their own experiences and ponder the perspectives of others; in this case, one of the men at the top. Additionally, there was also a generation of Americans, born during and immediately after the War, who were entering adulthood in the 1880s. Their perspectives about the War and the lessons it taught the country would be informed entirely by works such as these memoirs, shaping their attitudes about the United States and what it means to be an American as the world hurdled towards the 20th century.
-Eric Salmonsen, EPS
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(Note: this recording misstates the publication year as 1875, not 1885)
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The initial conversation addresses some of the questions that are used to analyze a primary source, but not all. With your teacher’s guidance, please record your insights on the following, and submit them to the site for publication:
Where was it made and what locations are associated with it?
What behaviors and ideas are conveyed?
Is it prescriptive of descriptive?
Gallery
Ulysses S. Grant’s memoirs are often regarded as the first commercialized presidential memoir or autobiography. Do you know of other presidential writings that came before or after Grant’s that support the idea of former Chief Executives using their social status and unique perspectives to sell books? Please submit photos and brief captions to this gallery. Additionally, this work presents and opportunity to highlight other accounts of the Civil War. Did other officers publish their memories of the war? How about enlisted men? If you know of any, please send along your pictures.