Ulysses S. Grant

Grant’s presidency is generally judged as unsuccessful and blighted by corruption. However, the last period of his life has had a lasting imprint on his reputation and on the history of the war. Grant lost almost all of his wealth in a financial panic in 1884, and to make money he started writing about the war. Writer Samuel Clemens negotiated an advantageous contract for him. Diagnosed with throat cancer, Grant raced the clock to finish the book, dying just after completing it. He is shown here near the end. A huge best-seller, Grant’s Memoirs benefited his family, and the book is one of the great works of American literature: the clarity of the crisp, clean prose anticipates modern American writing. It is also an invaluable history of the war that Grant waged so relentlessly.