[pg. 23]
GRANT’S STRATEGY IN VIRGINIAby BRUCE CATTON
A speech delivered at the Washington Civil War
Round Table Gold Medal Award Dinner, April 13, 1967
Any man who tries to make a speech about the accomplishments of General Ulysses S. Grant runs at once into three problems. Let me list them, as follows:
[pg. 17] GRANT’S EARLY YEARS *** The most reliable source of information about Ulysses Grant’s life before he entered West Point at the age of seventeen is what Grant himself recalled when he wrote his Memoirs. A series of articles about Grant’s boyhood which appeared in the New York Ledger in 1868 under the name of his father were actually written by a reporter for the Ledger who drew on Jesse Grant’s recollections.
[pg. 9] GRANT AT SAN COSMÉ ***During the Mexican War Second Lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant, serving under both General Zachary Taylor and General Winfield Scott, was present at every major battle except Buena Vista. After his assignment to quartermaster duties in August, 1846, however, Grant took a much less active role in the fighting than he would have liked. His services at Monterey in September, 1846, though well-remembered by brother officers, were not officially recognized.
LETTERS FROM COLONEL GRANT’S REGIMENT *** Grant’s first command in the Civil War was the Seventh District Regiment of Illinois Volunteers, later mustered into U. S. service as the 21st Illinois Volunteers. Grant first saw this regiment at Mattoon where he had gone as mustering officer to enroll the regiment in the state service. It was then commanded by Colonel Simon S. Goode, who proved incapable of maintaining discipline.