![]() ![]() Grant penned his manuscript until his hand grew too feeble in the spring of 1885, forcing him to employ a stenographer. Grant reading on a house porch thought to be the last photograph taken before his death, 1885 With just weeks to live, Grant made one final push Grant: Known for Scandals, Overlooked for Achievements Ulysses S. “His wartime orders were renowned for their economy and exactness, and he made a point of writing all his own speeches as president-something unthinkable today.” “Grant prided himself on his writing skills,” Chernow says. Grant astounded Twain with not just the quantity, but the quality of his prose. In war and in writing, Grant had the most amazing ability to marshal all his energy in the pursuit of a single goal.” In his home, he amassed tall stacks of orders and maps that helped him to recreate his most famous battles with minute fidelity. #ULYSSES S GRANT AUTOBIOGRAPHY SERIES#“Grant approached his memoirs with the same grit and determination as he tackled his Civil War battles,” says Chernow, who also serves as executive producer of HISTORY’s documentary series “ Grant.” “As in those encounters, he was thorough and systematic, a real stickler for precision and the truth. In need of financial rescue himself after a series of failed investments, the debt-ridden Twain inked Grant to a contract with his newly launched publishing house and gave him a $1,000 check to cover living expenses.Įngaged in a furious race against time as cancer attacked his body, Grant dug into his writing with military efficiency, churning out as many as 10,000 words in a single day. Now destitute, the former president finally agreed to cash in on his celebrity. ![]() “While we think of Grant as silent and reserved, he was a captivating raconteur with a dry wit and a ready fund of stories,” says Ron Chernow, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Grant.įor years Twain had suggested that Grant pen his memoirs. ![]() Lurking behind the taciturn façade was a convivial storyteller who entertained friends such as Mark Twain with yarns of war and politics. Mark Twain paid Grant to publish his memoirsĭivested of his property and possessions, Grant still retained something of great value-his recollections of past glories. Grant (1822-1885) sits (center, with top hat) for a family portrait with his wife, Julia Dent Grant, and their children and grandchildren at the family’s seaside cottage in Long Branch, New Jersey, circa 1883. Grant: An Interactive Map of His Key Civil War Battles Former Civil War General and U.S. However, now that he was confronting the terrifying prospect of leaving Julia a penniless widow, the grizzled general who fought to save the Union undertook one final mission to save his family from impoverishment.ĮXPLORE: Ulysses S. Failing as a farmer and a rent collector prior to the Civil War, he lived in a log cabin that he dubbed “Hardscrabble” and sold firewood on the streets of St. Grant had been no stranger to financial misfortune. When he finally visited a doctor in October, Grant l earned he had incurable throat and tongue cancer, likely a product of his longtime cigar-smoking habit. Still smarting from bankruptcy’s bitter sting, Grant that summer suffered from an excruciating sting in his throat as well. GRANT, a three-night miniseries event, premieres Memorial Day at 9/8c on HISTORY. ![]() Desperate to pay his bills, the former U.S. Kind-hearted strangers responded by mailing Grant checks. In fact, Grant had all of $80 to his name. “When I went downtown this morning I thought I was worth a great deal of money, now I don’t know that I have a dollar,” the swindled Civil War hero lamented to a former West Point classmate. Thanks to a pyramid scheme operated by his unscrupulous partner, Ferdinand Ward, Grant’s investment firm had instantly collapsed, wiping out his life savings. ![]()
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