Book review: Personal Memoirs by Ulysses S. Grant

Personal Memoirs by Ulysses S. Grant
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The memoirs of Ulysses S Grant begin with him attending West Point, being a junior officer in the Mexican-American War, then his more well known role in the U.S. Civil War. What I found notable was his willingness to look at his actions and the actions of those around him and admit of what worked and what did not, and a fairly levelheaded and charitable view of those who commanded, served under, or opposed him.

The first part is a view of what the war looked like to a junior officer, prior to and during the Mexican-American War. It was a learning experience for him to lead men, and also look at the quality of the officers above him, who would be the commanding generals of the first part of the Civil War.

The Civil War section was a lot about managing logistics, and how logistics drove the campaigns. The actual battles do not as much discussion as the discussions of overall strategy and goals, and how logistics drove how he ran the various campaigns, and discussions of leading generals on both sides and his opinions on each.

The book is also notable because he discusses the backgrounds of both wars, and it becomes a touchpoint on what the country thought about as the cause of the Civil War in particular during and shortly after that conflict.

Definite must read into what being at war is like at the junior officer and at the general officer levels. And a 19th century feel of the U.S. Civil War.

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