General U.S. Grant Under Fire - Speaker Joseph Rose

We open our 2021 programme of meetings with what promises to be a highly controversial talk and discussion on the life and historiography of one of the Civil War’s most important characters, Ulysses S Grant.

Joseph Rose challenges Ulysses S. Grant’s reputation as a military genius and reliable chronicler of the Civil War.  Defenders ignore his suffering the biggest surprise of the war, committing the worst official act of anti-Semitism on U.S. soil, coming closest to losing Washington, and pursuing simplistic strategies and tactics, with impetuous frontal assaults against fortified positions.  Grant practiced favouritism—trashing enemies, elevating friends, and arranging battles to fit his prejudices.  Rose resolves such controversies as Grant's partying with Confederates on flag-of-truce boats, blaming Lew Wallace at Shiloh, pretending he always planned on passing Vicksburg, taking credit for Missionary Ridge, and leaving wounded men to suffer between the lines.  Rose overturns old tales by detailing Grant’s corruption…