Grant and Sherman: The Friendship that Won the Civil War

by Charles Bracelen Flood

  Villard, Oswald Garrison. John Brown, 1800-1859: A Biography Fifty Years After. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1943.

  Wagner, Margaret E., Gary W. Gallagher, and Paul Finkelman, eds. Civil War Desk Reference. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002.

  War of the Rebellion, The: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series I, Volume I. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1880.

  Ward, Geoffrey C. “We Were as Brothers.” American Heritage, November 1990, p. 14.

  Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1972.

  ——. Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959.

  Welles, Gideon. Diary of Gideon Welles. 3 vols. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1911.

  Whitman, Walt. Complete Poetry and Collected Prose. New York: Library of America, 1982.

  ——. Prose Works 1892. Edited by Floyd Stovall. Volume I: Specimen Days, Philadelphia: David McKay, 1892.

  Williams, A. Dana. The Praise of Lincoln: An Anthology. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1911.

  Williams, Hermann Warner, Jr. The Civil War: The Artist’s Record. Boston: Beacon Press, 1961.

  Williams, T. Harry. Lincoln and His Generals. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1952.

  ——. Lincoln and the Radicals. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1941.

  ——. McClellan, Sherman and Grant. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1962.

  Wilson, James Harrison. The Life of Charles A. Dana, New York: Harper, 1907.

  Winik, Jay. April 1865: The Month That Saved America. New York: HarperCollins, 2001. Woodward, W. E. Meet General Grant. New York: Liveright, 1965.

  Woodworth, Steven E., ed. Grant’s Lieutenants: From Cairo to Vicksburg. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2001.

  Wright, General Marcus J. General Scott. New York: D. Appleton, 1897.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  The way this book came into being is a story in itself, but there would be no story to tell were it not for the steadfast devotion and unwavering support always shown me by my wife, Katherine Burnam Flood.

  At the time I finished Lee—The Last Years, which begins with Robert E. Lee’s surrender of his Army of Northern Virginia to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, I found myself feeling that Grant was a singularly easy person to underestimate, both as a general and as a man. Grant played only a minor role in that book, and my attention in the ensuing years shifted to subjects and individuals far from the Civil War.

  In the autumn of 2002, having finished a manuscript devoted to one of those other subjects, I began casting about for an idea for yet another book. This led me into a number of discussions with my friend Lee Van Orsdel, who was then Dean of Libraries at Eastern Kentucky University in my city of Richmond, Kentucky. For some thirty years I have been making use of Eastern’s John Grant Crabbe Library. I have done research in a number of leading libraries in the United States and abroad, and in my judgment this million-volume library is, in relation to its mission, the best in which I have worked. I have seen it grow under the leadership of my dear friend the late dean Ernest E. Weyhrauch and his successor, Marcia Myers, and Lee Van Orsdel has brought it to new heights in every way, including the friendly efficiency and cooperation extended to its student and faculty users and others like myself. As a result, it has become my second home.

  After Lee and I discussed possible topics ranging from the GI Bill to Napoleon to the battles in China during 1945 to 1949, I found myself thinking about Ulysses S. Grant. I knew that the library’s holdings included a number of Civil War items, and soon found myself sitting down with Chuck Hill, university archivist. At this point I wanted to see if I could write about a less-known aspect of Grant’s life, such as his marriage, which Bruce Catton described in these terms: “They shared one of the great, romantic, beautiful loves of all American history.” Chuck is the proverbial quick study, and better connected in Civil War circles than I knew. Within three minutes, he had me on the phone with Professor John Y. Simon of Southern Illinois University, the editor of the monumental multivolume Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, one of the great works of American scholarship, which is published by the Ulysses S. Grant Association. Professor Simon told me that a study of the Grants’ marriage was currently being written; during that and another call, I backed away from this idea, but Professor Simon kindly indicated his willingness to hear from me again, as I continued to think about Grant.

  My search for the right idea then led me to my friend William Marshall, the director of Special Collections and Archives at the University of Kentucky. Bill is a Civil War expert who is currently the secretary of the Kentucky Civil War Round Table, the nation’s largest such group. During two lengthy conversations, I found myself coming back to the idea of Grant as soldier, but in what context? His rise in four years from being a former captain in the prewar Regular Army, a man who had never commanded more than a hundred soldiers and who was forced to resign for drinking while on duty, to being the victorious commanding general of the Union Army that had a strength of a million men? Or should it be a description of his bloody battles with Lee in Northern Virginia? Bill listened, made suggestions, and spoke of what had and had not been written on Grant and the Civil War. I left him knowing that it would be Grant—but Grant, how? Grant, what?

  I was ripe for a “Eureka!” moment, and it came during a long-distance telephone call with Thomas Fleming, a close friend of many years, the author of some forty books on various aspects of American history, and the man who succeeded me as president of PEN American Center. We went through a number of possibilities, and I suddenly said, “Grant and Sherman.” Tom, who has been enormously helpful to me in his insightful readings of several of my manuscripts as they developed, agreed that it was an interesting, worthwhile idea: there had never been a book that focused on Grant and Sherman’s military partnership and their warm, supportive friendship. (It should be noted, however, that Joseph T. Glatthaar devotes a chapter to the Grant-Sherman relationship in his excellent Civil War study, Partners in Command: The Relationships Between Leaders in the Civil War, where he makes this insightful defining comment: “Grant comprehended problems in all their simplicity; Sherman grasped them in all their complexity.”)

  From the moment of my conversation with Tom Fleming I never looked back, but there was a lot of looking ahead to do. In an exchange of letters with John Simon, he gave me important recommendations on what to begin reading, and was good enough to read the first part of my book as it evolved. During this time, I had some three hours of meetings with Charles P. Roland, alumni professor of American history at the University of Kentucky and the author of works including the admirable one-volume history, An American Iliad: The Story of the Civil War. His enthusiasm for the subject, combined with his suggestions for research, sent me forth with an added understanding of why he is so highly regarded by his colleagues and his graduate students. I later had the benefit of a most interesting and helpful conversation concerning the post–Civil War period with George C. Herring, alumni professor of history at the University of Kentucky, who provided me with a useful article regarding American attitudes about the nation’s westward expansion and entrance into the Spanish-American War.

  An important figure who soon appeared on my horizon was Professor John F. Marszalek, the W. L. Giles Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at Mississippi State University and author of Sherman: A Soldier’s Passion for Order and Commander of All Lincoln’s Armies: A Life of General Henry W. Halleck. Of all the authorities I have ever approached on whose time I had no claim, John Marszalek has been the most generous in his thoughtful, careful readings of my manuscript at successive stages, and in his candid reactions to what he was seeing. He tells me that his graduate students call him “The Cheerful Assassin”; I can only say that his helpful comments are characteristically those of a tough, fair, gifted teacher who is sharing hi
s large and significant fund of knowledge. His part in this has improved my book greatly, and its shortcomings remain mine alone.

  From that point in the development of Grant and Sherman, I was in the library at Eastern Kentucky University virtually every day, doing research and writing the story as it evolved. Every kind of cooperation and assistance was afforded me. Eastern has a team of excellent and dedicated young reference librarians, all of whom responded most helpfully to many queries on a great array of topics. A special word of thanks is due to Linda Sizemore, Government Documents Librarian, who, often on short notice, came up with articles on various important subjects, and answers to endless questions that ranged from the population of Vicksburg, Mississippi, in early 1863, to the time that Lincoln’s funeral train left Washington on the morning of April 21, 1865. Other reference librarians and assistants, working under the direction of Julie George, were unfailingly helpful. They include Karen Gilbert, Kevin Jones, Linda Klein, Victoria Koger, Brad Marcum, Leah Banks, and student workers Christine Cornell and Jennifer Mason. Rob Sica shared in his fellow reference librarians’ efforts, and has directed me to materials useful for my future projects. Steve Stone, a reference librarian now at Lexington Community College, assisted me earlier in this book’s evolution. I also wish to thank Carrie L. Cooper, Coordinator of Research and Instructional Services, who became the interim Dean of Libraries at Eastern when Lee Van Orsdel accepted the position of Dean of Libraries at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan.

  When it came time to go beyond the library’s own collection, I had the pleasure of working with Pat New, head of Interlibrary Loan, and Rene McGuire and Mia Fields, all of whom managed to produce books and other materials for me from all over the country in what seemed a remarkably short time, and to know when to renew them even before I asked them to do so. Thoughout all this, I had the almost daily assistance of the friendly workers in the Circulation Department, which operates under the able direction of Cheryle Cole-Bennett, coordinator of Retrieval Services, who has frequently shared her excellent supply of coffee with me. Headed by Webber Hamilton, this group has included Crystal Brookshire, Chandra Chaffin, Shona Green-Benge, Betty Hays, Kyle McQueen, Lana Takacs, Jeremy Turner, and Judy Warren, as well as student workers Katie Klopher, Brian McDaniel, and Tiffany Swindeman. For the past thirty years, I have had help in finding periodocals from Samira Tuel, who is now in Patron Information Services. I also appreciate the role played within the library over the years by Peggy Flaherty in developing the collection.

  As this project has come along, I have had vital help in the world of word processing from my computer guru, Ward Henline of the university’s Academic Computing Department. I am also particularly grateful to Carol T. Thomas for her work in bringing order out of the mass of assorted filing cards and legal pads within which were both my bibliography and chapter notes, and skillfully preparing those for publication. She continues to assist me as I study materials for future work. Jo Lane and Linda Witt have helped me keep in touch with different individuals within the large building in which this project has come to fruition. Finally, I very much appreciate the patience shown by two members of the custodial staff, Shirley Dickerson and Eleanor Land, who managed to stay even with the shifting tides of stacks of books and assorted papers that I accumulated in the work space the library most generously allotted to me. From the Dean of Libraries on down, I have been the beneficiary of a high standard of professional librarianship, as well as friendly and encouraging interest in what I do.

  A different and essential part of what would be involved in the finished book was provided by my gifted friend, Professor E. Carroll Hale of the university’s Department of Art and Design, whose many talents include cartography. He prepared the maps for this book, keeping his good-natured composure as I continued to think of changes I wished to make to them, right to the last moment of this book’s production deadline.

  I am indebted to a number of other libraries around the nation; in addition to the help I received at the University of Kentucky, I appreciate the help always given me by Barbara Power, head of Circulation at Berea College’s Hutchins Library, located a few miles from my house. (It is worth noting that the fine holdings of that collection have recently been increased by a bequest of three to four thousand Civil War items, still being cataloged, from the impressive private library of the late dean Warren D. Lambert of Berea College, who was a true Civil War expert.) Other institutions whose holdings I have consulted include the Library of Congress, The New York Public Library, and the New-York Historical Society. Russell Flinchum, archivist of the Century Association in New York City, was generous with his time during my first efforts to select the illustrations for this book.

  As my manuscript went through successive drafts, I became the beneficiary of a number of insightful and constructive readings and suggestions. Once again my friend Thomas Fleming read one of my efforts from start to finish, as did my sister, Mary Ellen Reese, herself an author. Edward H. Pulliam of Alexandria, Virginia, who contributes articles to history magazines, gave me the benefit of his sound editorial instincts as well as his knowledge of Civil War events and sites in Virginia and in Washington. Dwight D. Taylor of San Francisco posed some thought-provoking questions on matters ranging from major campaigns to word usage. William Marshall of the University of Kentucky, having helped me at the outset as I discussed possible approaches to the life of Grant, subsequently read the manuscript at a late stage in its development and made a number of excellent suggestions that I incorporated. I received some exceptionally important business advice on matters related to this book’s publication from Alfred Donovan and Stephen Hill, both of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. When I have been away from Kentucky during summers in Maine, I have relied on the computer-processing skills of Larry Gray of Bucksport, Maine, who teaches at the George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill. My daughter Lucy, a published young writer now in an M.A. program in creative writing at the University of Texas at Austin, made corrections and suggestions during a careful reading of one of my later drafts.

  When it came time to submit my manuscript to publishers, this was done in masterful fashion by my literary agent, John Taylor (“Ike”) Williams. His friendly and efficient assistant Hope Denekamp has been greatly helpful during every subsequent stage of the agent-author relationship. Alexis Rizzutto, then with the Kneerim and Williams agency, played an important part in the initial publishing negotiations. As a result, I signed a contract with the publishing house Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and found myself working with Eric Chinski, a truly gifted editor who has the best of editorial talents: the ability to help the writer make the most of what is already on paper at the time the author-editor relationship begins. His efforts on my behalf have been supported by a team of pleasant, able, energetic, dedicated young people. Eric Chinski’s assistant, Gena Hamshaw, has played her part in bringing this manuscript forward in a friendly, highly efficient manner; she has swiftly and informatively answered every e-mail query or response from my end, on matters of every kind, and I thank her for her many hours of work on this one project. Sarah Russo, my publicist, has similarly worked hard in her role of arranging a number of appearences to widen the audience for this book, and has made many other efforts to bring attention to it. During the copyediting, Cynthia Merman gave the manuscript her careful and constructive attention, and Wah-Ming Chang of Farrar, Straus and Giroux has brought it through the overall copyediting process in a manner that I very much appreciate. I also thank Kathryn Lewis for her role as an editorial assistant when she was with the publishing house.

  In closing this long list of those who have helped me, I wish to mention some individuals whose contribution to this book largely consists of the way in which they helped to form my approach and style through their reading and commenting on my earlier manuscripts. They include my friends the late Eleanor Parsons of St. Petersburg, Florida, as well as Sidney Offit of New York City; Barbara Pluff of Brunswick, Maine; Helen Poz of Melb
ourne, Florida; Bridget Saltonstall of Concord, Massachusetts; and Gerald Toner of Louisville, Kentucky. The author Thomas Parrish of Berea, Kentucky, has continued the help he has given me over the years by making excellent suggestions as to Civil War experts I should talk to when I began this book. A writer’s work is in part a reflection of the individuals he has known, and, first to last in these acknowledgments, I have been fortunate in that reguard.

  INDEX

  The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages of your eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.

  Adams, Abigail

  Adams, Col. Charles Francis

  Albany Evening Journal

  Alcatraz Island

  Aldrich, Mrs. Alfred Proctor

  Alexandria (Louisiana)

  Allatoona Pass (Georgia)

  alligators

  American Freedman’s Inquiry Commission

  Ammen, Brig. Gen. Jacob

  Anaconda Plan

  Anderson, Brig. Gen. Robert

  Andersonville (Georgia) prison

  Antietam, Battle of (1862)

  Appler, Col. Jesse J.

  Appomattox Court House (Virginia): Chamberlain’s salute to Confederates at; surrender at; unburied bodies at

  Appomattox River

  Arkansas Post (Arkansas)

  Arlington Heights (Arlington National Cemetery)

  Army and Navy Gazette (Britain)

  Arrow War (China)

  Arthur, Chester A.

  Associated Press

  Atlanta (Georgia): campaign; destruction of; Southern evacuation of

  Atzerodt, George A.