Before Grant is even born, we get a lot of information about his family. From having a 100% American-born family to his half-uncle, Peter Grant, being friends and roommates with THE John Brown’s father. Along with that, we learn about Grant’s father, Jesse Grant, who was a man who was very keen about the education of himself. And especially his children, when on April 27th, 1822 and in the state of Ohio, Ulysses S. Grant would be born (although being born as Hiram Ulysses Grant, he never directly stated that he was in this novel, but it is a fact to keep in mind).

Being given a good education that only consisted of the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic, Grant, at the age of 17, would then get nominated by his state’s Representative, Thomas L. Hamer—an ex-friend of his father's after a political debate over Andrew Jackson’s policies with the Central Bank—to the best school in the country for military positions, WEST POINT (it would also be here that the name Ulysses S. Grant would be adopted due to a transcript typo). We don’t see much of Grant at West Point, but what we do know is that Grant tried higher levels of math than simple arithmetic, for example, trying algebra. However, when Grant tried algebra all by himself, without any instruction at all from a teacher, he would comment that "... it was Greek to me" (pg. 13). This information really intrigued me as, currently in 8th grade, I am learning about algebra while Grant had to independently learn it at college. It is truly something to think about how the school system of America has developed from teaching algebra at A COLLEGE level to a class that a bunch of 13- to 14-year-olds have to take in order to get onto the next level of Algebra and so much more.

It would also be at West Point that we see important figures of the time period after the Jacksonian Era, people such as General Winfield Scott and President Martin Van Buran. Both of whom Grant would remark, “... (Martin Van Buran) did not impress me with awe which Scott had inspired (pg. 21).” Something else I find interesting since when was the last time anyone has ever talked about Martin Van Buran, and especially in a comparison with the brilliant General Winfield Scott? (Image to the right is him at West Point) ->

After a decade of working at his father’s business, Grant would be back on the field of battle once again after the Election of 1860 provoked the south to secede, expecting utmost a 90-day year, however, he would be thrown into a 5-year long one. Being literally the only notable figure in the town, Grant would give an arising and yet “embarrassing” speech. With almost every single man in the town signing up to fight for the Union cause, while women of the town would ask Grant for the uniform of the Union army and proceeded to get to work on making them for each and individual new recruit. This period of preparation before the brutal fighting in wars has always been interesting to me, and getting this insight from the perspective of the soon legendary Ulysses S. Grant is especially riveting even if this preparation goes as far as half of the page 104.

Note; This is the over half of the book mentioned previously, I will be majorly skipping over events in the hopes that you will personally go ahead and buy the book to read the true reason that most people who buy this book want to read, the Civil War itself.

It would be in the Civil War that Grant saw rapid promotion, in a span of 5 chapters, Grant would achieve the rank of Major General in the hostile state of Missouri. During this time in Missouri, Grant would finally get a chance to use his tactician skills, from shadowing the opponent Confederate forces in the region to the pyrrhic and yet successful Battle of Belmont. In which, despite being known as a Union defeat, Grant took it as a victory. This would be one of his key characteristics in the war, being logically optimistic.

With this initial victory at Belmont, Grant would then score BIG, nationwide, upon the Battle of Fort Donelson. In which, Grant successfully took the “anything but comforted over the prospects (pg.135)” Fort Donelson. It would be in this battle that we see his title of “Unconditional Surrender Grant” granted to him… and a life-long friendship with a steamboat officer who sent motivational letters to Grant through reinforcement and supply ships, this steamboat officer being William T. Sherman. With the victory at Fort Donelson, Grant would later participate in the later battles of the Mississippian Front of the war. From the Battle of Shiloh, the Battle of Corinth, and eventually to the centerpiece of his ANTICS in the Mississippi, the Campaign of Vicksburg. The Campaign of Vicksburg being the siege in which Grant’s own son would participate in and the one which sealed Union VICTORY in the Civil War through the dismantling of the supply depots from Far West to the Deep South (as the South got most of its consumable food from the Far West) and the completion of Scot’s Anaconda—plans made by Winfield Scot to surround the Confederacy and force them to submission.

However, these successes in the Mississippi Front would pale in comparison to his victories in the Eastern Front, the long standing stalemate between the North and South in between the lands of Washington DC and Richmond. It would be here that the aforementioned McClellan would be beaten to a PULP by Robert E. Lee, so much so that when Grant was listing all of the generals fired throughout the war, he would mainly point to McClellan’s failures upon an interview with President Lincoln. However, the North did win some luck after Lee was beaten by George Meade at the Battle of Gettysburg. And it would be under Grant that we would see the CRACKING of this stalemate between the North and South through Grant’s excellent—and yet brutal—tactics. Eventually defeating Robert E. Lee after a series of high action chapters, something I have to unfortunately skim over: Grant after being appointed Commander-In-Chief of the armed forces, would move against Lee. Using the sheer amount of Union soldiers compared to the Confederates’, Grant was able to push through whatever forces Lee brought against Grant. This allowed Grant to knock out Petersburg, the supply depot of Richmond. With Petersburg out, Lee then retreated from defending Richmond and went on loose with Grant hot on his heels. Grant would later corner Lee at Appomattox Courthouse, forcing his surrender. With the loss of the South’s greatest general, the rest of the Confederacy soon collapsed.

With the surrender of Lee and his army at Appomattox, Grant and Lee would talk about conditions. Grant, surprisingly, after fighting the Confederates for so long regarded Lee with the utmost respect. In fact, according to Grant himself “Our conversation grew so pleasant that I almost forgot the objective of our meeting (pg.466).” As afterall, the two were colleagues in the Mexican-American War. However, Grant would allow Lee and his battered and defeated army to be left on parole, marching his victorious army back to Washington DC.

So, what can we take away from this one incredibly long novel? It is long, just like the extensive military career of Ulysses S. Grant. His perspectives on the many historical events that he lived through and how he even made some of these historical events are very helpful in grasping the era that he lived in. So much so that it seems alien to me, like a 10-year-old going miles and miles away from their parents independently and exchanging horses? Not to mention the wealth of information about the differences between now and then, from school classes to how people traveled (I forgot to mention that the majority of Grant's travel after graduating from West Point was via steamboat up the Mississippi). This book is truly a gateway to understanding the politics, moods of many different Americans (take, for example, the people Grant met in Illinois while working for his father or his understanding of Robert E. Lee's possible disappointment with the outcome of the Civil War), and military operations of the United States during this time period. This book is perfect for both beginning (me) and advanced students of American history. I tell you, reading all 600 pages of this book is worth it, despite some parts being dull (I see this as a positive, as it shows the increasing tiredness of all involved in the Civil War, but still the drive by Grant to complete the novel), it is a primary source, it is closest you will get to the events of the period from the very eyes of one of the great people who defined the age. So, please buy this novel and read it. I promise you once again, it's worth it, you will view this period of American history in a new lens and maybe even in our modern day with so much has changed in a century and a half.