General Grant On History Channel

[MountainRaven]

On a related note:

This Tweet has information on a Meiji-era Japanese biography of Grant, which can be viewed as downloaded as a .pdf here (click on the thumbnail or where it says, "(click here)"). It is, of course, in Japanese, but it is also illustrated, so it should be interesting. One point: They didn't just transliterate Grant's name using katakana (Japanese alphabet mostly used for onomatopoeias and foreign words - and the names of foreigners - today), but also using kanji (Japanese alphabet directly borrowed from Chinese and used for Japanese names); a mark of how highly regarded the Japanese considered Grant: 格蘭氏.

[WillBrink]

On a related note:

This Tweet has information on a Meiji-era Japanese biography of Grant, which can be viewed as downloaded as a .pdf here (click on the thumbnail or where it says, "(click here)"). It is, of course, in Japanese, but it is also illustrated, so it should be interesting. One point: They didn't just transliterate Grant's name using katakana (Japanese alphabet mostly used for onomatopoeias and foreign words - and the names of foreigners - today), but also using kanji (Japanese alphabet directly borrowed from Chinese and used for Japanese names); a mark of how highly regarded the Japanese considered Grant: 格蘭氏.

What amazed me was even the southern soldiers had high regards for him due to the way they were treated.

[chuckman]

What amazed me was even the southern soldiers had high regards for him due to the way they were treated.

There was a lot of professional respect going both ways across the Mason-Dixon Line. At the higher echelons, likely because if they did not know each other or serve with each other, they knew people who did, and the reputations got around.

[ThirdWatcher]

... His "tenacity" was because he burned through quite a few soldiers at Shiloh, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, etc. Tactical stalemates in some of those battles didn't deter him as it had previous commanders. He pushed on, ever-trying to flank the Confederates once he was in Virginia after the Wilderness battle ground to a halt. He did have a reputation in the North as a "butcher" with some people.

I don't think he displayed the tactical prowess some of his adversaries had, but he had beaucoup more men and resources. The South couldn't replace losses nearly as readily as the North could. That played well into Grant's bull-headed strategy...

I think you bring up some very good points. I wonder, given the quality of Confederate leadership if there was any other way. I wonder if, in the long run he saved lives (by putting an end to the war ASAP). I would find it very hard to kill other Americans though...

[ThirdWatcher]

BTW, I’d like to see a miniseries about General of the Army George C. Marshall. I know very little about the man but what little I do know is fascinating.

[Voodoochild]

There was a lot of professional respect going both ways across the Mason-Dixon Line. At the higher echelons, likely because if they did not know each other or serve with each other, they knew people who did, and the reputations got around.

I believe Grant and Lee both served along side each other during the Mexican campaign.

[HardToHandle]

I would say a time or two he took some damned thin line risks with logistics in the Western Theater.
More than once had the Confederates decided to cut his supply line rather than meet him in battle or siege, they could have won the day with some cavalry action aka WB Forrest.

Grant‘s campaigns around Vicksburg was a series of huge logistical gambles. That said, he learned from mistakes and learned to apply what he did have as resources. The entire war in the West gets way too little play, but Grant covered 10x the distance and won more modern battles of maneuver in months than the Army of Potomac did in years.

That said, Robert E Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia were different adversaries with extremely compact lines of maneuver. Grant managed to take the addled and political unreliable Army of the Potomac across the finish line. Much of the butcher legend comes from the McClellan Democrats in Northern Army, the same guys who never won a battle in three years.

[WillBrink]

There was a lot of professional respect going both ways across the Mason-Dixon Line. At the higher echelons, likely because if they did not know each other or serve with each other, they knew people who did, and the reputations got around.

While there was some professional respect say post WWII, many were still taken out and shot for their involvement. That Lincoln, and to an even greater degree Grant, made the decision to let them all go home and re start their lives, etc, was not lost on the soldiers of the south and apparently they help Grant in high esteem for it, and that was at the grunt level.

[WillBrink]

I believe Grant and Lee both served along side each other during the Mexican campaign.

If I understand, they were both there but had little interaction during the campaign. Apparently Grant remembered Lee there, but Lee did not recall Grant. No doubt there is at least some bind shared by men who were involved in any military campaign.