Captain Sam Grant

Grant #1

by Lloyd Lewis

This biography covers Grant's youth and young manhood from 1822 to 1861. The narrative covers from Grant's birth, his days at West Point; his courtship and marriage, his experiences during the Mexican war, and his subsequent time as a civilian before his comeback as a soldier during the Civil War.

Genres: Civil War, Biography, History, Presidents, American History, American Civil War, Nonfiction

512 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1950

About the author

Lloyd Downs Lewis was a journalist, historian, and major figure in a remarkable world of arts and letters that flourished in Chicago following World War I.

Encyclopedia of Chicago

Reviews

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first in a trilogy on Ulysses S. Grant’s military career leading up to the end of the Civil War. This volume, the only one written by Lloyd Lewis as he died before he could write the other two volumes, covers Grant’s youth, childhood growing up in Ohio, his time studying at West Point, then his service in the Mexican war, and his rather undistinguished Army career for the next several years after that. Lewis also covers Grant‘s resignation from the Army and his subsequent fall to rock bottom in St. Louis, before resurrecting himself when the Civil War breaks out in 1861.

Unlike many presidential biographies, Lewis really takes pains to dig into Grant’s childhood and family background. He spends a good deal of time – almost too much time – writing about Grant‘s father and his eccentricities. Lewis discusses Grant‘s personality as he becomes a boy and then reviews how he more or less just by happenstance was able to get into West Point. Even as a youth, Grant seemed rather shiftless, not really knowing what he wanted to do in life. What he did know was that he did not want to follow his father into business as a tanner. The one thing about Grant that was clear to everyone is that he had a peculiar knack for horsemanship. Grant could tame the wildest of horses - horses that would buck everybody else who tried to ride them. Grant somehow was able to communicate with horses and get them to do what he wanted them to do.

Grant was a middling student at West Point. He mainly followed the rules and did not get too much trouble, but he was not an exceptional student by any means and certainly did not stand out. While he did show an aptitude for mathematics, Grant really had no interest in a military career. Upon graduation, he was hoping to become an instructor of mathematics at West Point within a few years. However, James K Polk became President a few years after Grant graduated, and subsequently launched a war with Mexico in the spirit of Manifest Destiny.

While not exactly exciting up to this point, the book was moving along more or less. However, once Lewis got to the Mexican war, things really bogged down for me. In a war where even Grant admitted that the vast number of days that he spent in Mexico and South Texas he did not see any action, Lewis goes into great detail about the battles that Grant was in, the battles that Grant was not in, and the overall context of the war. For me, this just dragged on for chapter after chapter after chapter. At times, I felt that Grant almost got lost in the telling of his own story. Well, I do appreciate Lewis giving context to the times, there is only so much context that I was really looking for here when the focus was supposed to be on Grant.

Fortunately, after that, the narrative picked up. There is ample coverage of Grant’s courtship with Julia Dent of St. Louis. And then Lewis follows Grant and Julia as they travel to Detroit and upstate New York for Army postings. Unfortunately, after a few years of this, Grant received orders to transfer to the West Coast, both California and also the Oregon territory, which is present day Oregon and Washington State. Julia was pregnant with their second child at the time, and was not in a condition to make the long steamboat journey through Panama and over to the West Coast of the United States. Grant therefore traveled without her. Being separated from his wife and his first son, and knowing that a second child was on the way, threw Grant out of equilibrium.

What comes through in the writing, which is punctuated by many letters that Grant wrote to Julia, is his deep love and devotion to her and his family in general. Grant was first and foremost, a family man. He was deeply attached to Julia and had no interest in any other women at all. Thus, even though he was situated in scenic geographic areas, Grant was absolutely miserable. And the longer that his posting went on out on the West Coast, the more unhappy he grew. This then paved the way for Grant’s infamous drinking problem to emerge. Lewis handled this very well in my view because he properly showed the context for why this occurred, but also took pains to explain that Grant was not some type of a drunkard who was stumbling around town all of the time. In fact, most of the time Grant was sober. But the problem was, when he did drink, he didn’t handle his liquor very well at all and it seems like it did not take very much alcohol to drastically affect Grant’s behavior. And in what was then a very small Army, rumors quickly grew, and these dogged Grant for the rest of his life.

Adding to the recurrent drinking issue, Grant was an abysmal failure in business. Lewis documents time after time where Grant attempted a business venture only for it to blow up in his face and for him to lose all of his money and work that he put into the endeavor. This also occurred after he left the Army, when he tried to be a farmer in St. Louis, and then sell firewood, and then try to be a rent collector. It seemed that whatever Grant attempted in a business sense, failed miserably.

Most interesting to me was the part about Grant‘s resignation from the army. What prompted it? Why did he submit a resignation on the day that he finally obtained the rank of captain? While Grant never said for sure, Lewis speculates that it was a combination of factors. One his commanding officer at the time was a jerk, he did not like Grant and Grant did not like him. Two, Grant had an embarrassing episode where he was drunk while he was supposed to be passing out the company payroll. Three, he was miserable and missed his family desperately. Four, he had no particular interest in staying in the Army anyways, and even had he stayed he would not have made enough money on his captain’s salary to be able to support his family.

Grant by this point reeked of desperation. He had no money and had to rely basically on charity for passage back to New York City. Many times, he swallowed his pride and wrote his father for money, who usually did not oblige him. When he finally made it back to St. Louis, he needed help from his stepfather to try to start out as a farmer. Several years of backbreaking farm labor led to nothing. Other business endeavors dried up as soon as Grant touched them. Finally, with ratty clothes and really nowhere else to turn, Grant reluctantly accepted a position in his father‘s tanning shop in Galena, Illinois, and moved there in early 1860.

The final few chapters deal with some more ignominy for Grant. While respected by people in town, Grant’s seedy appearance did not help him. He repeatedly volunteered for service in Illinois, but kept getting rebuffed. He tried to join the army in Missouri, but that failed. He went to Ohio, but George McClellan wouldn’t even deign to give him the time of day. He then tried to get on in Indiana but failed there too. Then finally a Colonel’s commission came from the Illinois governor. That is where this volume ends, with the war about to start between North and South.

Written in the late 1940s, this book definitely reads like it. The writing is dated and also contains many words that we would find offensive today. But the sometimes plodding pace of the narrative doesn’t help. I do appreciate that Lewis spent a lot of time researching Grant’s early years, and this was not something that he rushed through in an attempt to get to the part that most people probably care about. He also does a very good job of chronicling just how much of a failure Grant really was as a businessman. This is a man that simply could not afford to support his family, or even himself sometimes. Yet through it all there was a steely determination that he was not going to give up, that he was going to continue trying, and that his devotion to his family would always be the most important thing to him. It’s one of the things that I greatly admire about Grant. Obviously there have been a lot of other books written about Grant, so unless you are really interested in reading about his early life this one might not be for you. That said, LUIS is scrupulously fair to grant and brings him to life, showing his foibles as well as his many positive qualities.

Grade: C+

[Steven Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a part of a trilogy. The first work, "Captain Sam Grant," was authored by Lloyd Lewis. Unfortunately, he died before he was able to complete the full biography (indeed, he died before this volume was actually published). As the publisher notes, though, Lewis had amassed a great deal of information. Finally, well-known historian Bruce Catton agreed to complete the trilogy (His two works are "Grant Moves South" and "Grant Takes Command"). The three works together provide a good biography of U. S. Grant.

However, Lewis' book is nicely wrought. It traces his life in some detail from birth to his sojourn in Galena, Illinois, after a checkered military career (his valor in the assault on Mexico City during the Mexican War was a high point of his early career) and failed business efforts in Missouri.

It provides an interesting view of Grant the person. As portrayed here, he is a modest, decent human being who sometimes made bad decisions, who experienced some poor luck, but who was dogged enough to continue. The book ends with his taking command of an Illinois regiment.

The next two volumes continue the story of Grant, with the end coming at the Grand Review of the Union armies in Washington, D. C. in 1865. But the first volume lays the groundwork, sets the stage for the older, more successful Grant.

Lewis' book is well worth reading for those interested in Grant.

[John Lomnicki, · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read Ron Chernow’s Grant, I believed that was the definitive volume, but this definitely is a truly in depth examination. It sets the scene and the personalities in a complete fashion. Written in a narrative style, once I had read 2/3 of the volume it was hard to put down. I look forward to reading the next two volumes, hoping the style is similar even though by a different author. Lloyd Lewis was a great historical author, I am sorry that he died in 1950 before completing the trilogy.

[Curtiss · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a superb biography of the pre-war career of Ulysses S. Grant, the Union's foremost fighting general, by Lloyd Lewis, written with the assistance of his friend and colleague, noted Civil War historian, Bruce Catton, who would go on to write two more volumes covering Grant's wartime career, "Grant Moves South" and "Grant Takes Command," to complete a three-volume biography.

This volume covers the well-planned and executed career of Jesse Grant and his favorite son, Hiram Ulysses Grant, whose name, through a combination of circumstances involving military red-tape and an erroneous entry of the middle initial 'S' on his enrollment papers at West Point, lead Grant to adopt the middle name 'Sam', having been nicknamed 'Uncle Sam' Grant at the academy. Grant's early service career involved participating in every battle of the Mexican-American War, except the storming of Puebla, Mexico, followed by his promotion for valor and leadership, as were most of his West point classmates, who were a roster of future Civil War leaders on both sides.

Grant comes off as a likeable, courageous, but unassuming man, whose main ambition to become an instructor of mathematics at West Point was diverted into a war of aggression and territorial acquisition which he believed to be fundamentally immoral. After the war, Grant's efforts to increase his peacetime pay, to be able to afford to move his wife and two boys west to join him at Fort Vancouver, Washington State, proved to be disastrous, but no more so than the moneymaking efforts of other fellow officers, in the volatile investment era associated with the California "Gold Rush." Dejected over his business failures and the separation from his family, the youngest of whom he had never seen, Grant took to drinking, despite his normally abstemious nature. He eventually resigned his commission, as many of his classmates had chosen to do, rejoined his family, and tried (unsuccessfully) to farm land owned by his father-in-law.

Grant's main moneymaking tasks were cutting and hauling firewood, just as he had before as a responsible boy of twelve, when he demonstrated how he never had any difficulty handling a horse or team of horses, all by himself. At ten, he had been the boy pushed forward by his friends to 'ride the pony' for five dollars whenever the circus came to town, despite its frantic lunges designed to unseat its rider, and even a monkey tossed onto his back by the ringmaster. He was acknowledged by the staff and his classmates to be the best-rider ever to attend West Point, setting an academy high-mark for fence jumping that stood for over 75 years.

When he chose to vote for Buchanan in the 1856 election, it was in an effort to delay the schism between slave states and the fire-brand Republicans. But he saw Buchanan's fecklessness lead to further antagonism between North and South. This in turn led to the election of Lincon in 1860, followed by the secession of one state after another, with Grant gloomily predicting the Southern states would fight, and that the North's vastly superior manpower, industry, and resources, would lead to a short bloody war to subdue them.

After the volunteers of the 21st Illinois volunteer regiment rejected their colonel and demanded a new one, specifically mentioning their mustering agent, Grant, as a possible successor, Governor Yates of Illinois offered Grant the job, but there was one snag, the men's 90-day enlistments were up in one month, and nearly 650 of the original 1250 recruits had already absconded. In one month Grant instilled discipline by disbanding the guards who were intended to keep the men in camp (which they had previously named Camp Grant, since even at that time they had recognized he as a civilian mustering agent was a better soldier than their original commander), and told the men they must report to every assembly without fail, and then posted the assembly schedule showing barely two hours between assemblies.

A pair of prominent local Democrat politicians offered to speak to the men to encourage them to sign up for 3-year enlistments after their first enlistments expired. The second speaker roused them, and concluded by saying, "Boys, you don't want to go home to Mary, and when she asks how far did you get? Be forced to reply, 'Mattoon.' " After that 603 of them, virtually to a man, re-enlisted for three years. When Grant was introduced officially as their new commander, they called out, "Speech! Speech!" and his response was, "Men, go to your quarters."

They were in the Army now.

This is of the best biographies I've ever read; and features an interesting two-page insight into the Dred Scott case. Dred Scott was the nickname soldiers had given to a slave named 'Sam,' who used to greet every news story about General Winfield Scott's campaign from Vera Cruz to Mexico City, by exclaiming, "Great Scott!", which his negro patois rendered as "Dret Scott!" Hence his nickname, which he later used in applying for a court decision to define his status as a free man, since his original owners had allowed his slave status to lapse, and didn't feel they had standing to grant him freedom as they had to their other slaves.

The court ruled that the Congress had no authority to declare any territory to be either "slave" or "free," thereby nullifying the Missouri Compromise and reinstating Sam's slave status. Two months later Sam's former owners officially granted him his freedom by deed of manumission, and four months after that Sam was dead of the tuberculosis which he had been suffering from throughout the case.

[Tom Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lloyd Lewis isn't a writer on par with Bruce Catton - however Lloyd's book is well worth the read - Grant's life is critically important to our nation's history - next up is GRANT by Jean Edward Smith (covers Grant's presidency) - my guess is that Grant has forever been defamed by those in thrall to an American aristocracy - Grant, a true hero of the common man.
Lewis also managed to squeeze in the best lawyer joke ever - I'll have to visit Galena, IL - it's too close to pass up

[Gmaharriet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book delightful. Since it's only volume 1 of a 3-part biography, and since volumes 2 and 3 were written by Bruce Catton, I wasn't expecting it to measure up to Catton's style. Lloyd Lewis doesn't write exactly like Catton, but his tale of Grant's early life is very readable. I highly recommend it!

[Bill V · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very good book. It adds depth to the stories and rumors regarding Ulysses S. Grant early life as well as reveal many facts not previously known.

[Gerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book of a trilogy, Captain Sam Grant, Grant Moves South, and Grant Takes Command, covering the life of Ulysses S. Grant through the Civil War. Unfortunately, neither Lloyd Lewis, the first book's author, nor Bruce Catton, who penned the following two, covered Grant's presidency nor the unfortunate final years of his life. Lewis died after finishing Captain Sam Grant.

The narrative style is similar to Douglas S. Freeman's in his slightly earlier trilogy on Robert E. Lee; that is, Lewis will insert some suppositional history in for added flavor. For example, "Through the window of the inn where he roomed he could see the village stirring after the long winter night." This made me wonder how accurate the bio was going to be, but Lewis does footnote key facts.

He goes over conflicting information on Grant's drinking, but does not render a judgement on how bad his problem was. The book was published in 1950, before alcoholism was termed a "disease."

For a little while, Grant owned a slave and this is covered.

Grant's academic career at West Point and his participation in the Mexican War get detailed coverage. Grant served under both Taylor and Scott so the reader reads of both campaigns. Unfortunately, the book hasn't a single map, so it is difficult to follow campaigns and battles.

The sequence of events which brought Grant back into the military at the start of the Civil War are also well covered.

This is an easy, although big, read, and as thorough a study of young Grant as one is going to find. I'm not sure it's impartial; we read of Grant's achievements, but, if, outside of his drinking, he had faults(as if the drinking wasn't enough), we don't learn of them. Lewis is doing for Grant what Freeman did for Lee.

[David Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well researched biography of an often maligned President. The author handles Grant’s drinking problem deftly. Paints the future president as a firm, determined but loving gentle man. Unwilling to self promote, but a natural born leader. Flawed (likely depression)as we all are but the right man to lead the Union army and eventually the country. My only complaint he got a little bogged down in the Mexican War time and also tended to introduce too many players in Grant’s life. Looking forward to reading Chernow’s full biography now.

[Jonnie Enloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best of choices for this period of his life

[Jerry Dawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Readable, highly detailed account of Grant’s life up to his gaining a command at the start of the civil war.