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Grant #2
Grant Moves South, 1861-1863
Part one of the classic Civil War study of General Ulysses S. Grant, written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Bruce Catton, introduces General Grant as he undertakes his first Civil War command, and follows him as he leads his troops through a series of battles, including Belmont, Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, Chickasaw Bayou, Edwards Station, and Vicksburg.
564 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1960
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About the author
Bruce Catton
374 books313 followersBruce Catton was a distinguished American historian and journalist, best known for his influential writings on the American Civil War. Renowned for his narrative style, Catton brought history to life through richly drawn characters, vivid battlefield descriptions, and a deep understanding of the political and emotional forces that shaped the era. His accessible yet meticulously researched books made him one of the most popular historians of the twentieth century.
Born in Petoskey, Michigan, and raised in the small town of Benzonia, Catton grew up surrounded by Civil War veterans whose personal stories sparked a lifelong fascination with the conflict. Though he briefly attended Oberlin College, Catton left during World War I and served in the U.S. Navy. He later began a career in journalism, working as a reporter, editor, and Washington correspondent. His experience in government service during World War II inspired his first book, The War Lords of Washington (1948).
Catton achieved national acclaim with his Army of the Potomac trilogy—Mr. Lincoln’s Army (1951), Glory Road (1952), and A Stillness at Appomattox (1953)—the last of which earned him the Pulitzer Prize for History and the National Book Award. He went on to publish a second trilogy, The Centennial History of the Civil War, and contributed two volumes to a biography of Ulysses S. Grant, begun by Lloyd Lewis. His other notable works include This Hallowed Ground, The American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War, and Waiting for the Morning Train, a memoir of his Michigan boyhood.
In 1954, Catton became the founding editor of American Heritage magazine, further shaping the public’s understanding of U.S. history. In 1977, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Catton’s legacy endures through his vivid portrayals of America’s most defining conflict and his enduring influence on historical writing.
Born in Petoskey, Michigan, and raised in the small town of Benzonia, Catton grew up surrounded by Civil War veterans whose personal stories sparked a lifelong fascination with the conflict. Though he briefly attended Oberlin College, Catton left during World War I and served in the U.S. Navy. He later began a career in journalism, working as a reporter, editor, and Washington correspondent. His experience in government service during World War II inspired his first book, The War Lords of Washington (1948).
Catton achieved national acclaim with his Army of the Potomac trilogy—Mr. Lincoln’s Army (1951), Glory Road (1952), and A Stillness at Appomattox (1953)—the last of which earned him the Pulitzer Prize for History and the National Book Award. He went on to publish a second trilogy, The Centennial History of the Civil War, and contributed two volumes to a biography of Ulysses S. Grant, begun by Lloyd Lewis. His other notable works include This Hallowed Ground, The American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War, and Waiting for the Morning Train, a memoir of his Michigan boyhood.
In 1954, Catton became the founding editor of American Heritage magazine, further shaping the public’s understanding of U.S. history. In 1977, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Catton’s legacy endures through his vivid portrayals of America’s most defining conflict and his enduring influence on historical writing.
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August 5, 2024
The historian, Bruce Catton, writes some of the most accessible descriptions of the Civil War and he won the Pulitzer Prize for this one. I revisited this book as part of a general urge to refresh myself and learn more about U.S. Grant, the man, the general and the President of the United States.
Grant was not the kind of general like Wellington or Patton who made sure that you knew he was in charge. Because his ego had little need to be fed (contrast this with so many other Union generals who were always jockeying for position), he ofttimes was ignored or easily dismissed. It took Lincoln a while to get Grant on his radar, but his retort to Grant’s detractors (again often other generals) was, in part, “…because he wins.”
This book is very readable. It is scholarly without being pedantic. Catton has the knack for choosing illuminating anecdotes while avoiding long-winded dissertations. I have selected a few excerpts from his discussion of the Battle of Shiloh to give you a sense of his style.
“…the terrible battle of Shiloh was over. Between them, Grant and Buell had lost more than 13,000 men, Beauregard had lost more than 10,000, and the greatest battle ever fought on the North American Continent up to that date had come to a conclusion. It had been a very near thing indeed, and the most that could be said for the Northerners was that they had beaten off an unexpected attack; and yet one of the decisive struggles of the Civil War had been won. The end of the war was a long way off, in April of 1862, yet when the exhausted Confederates drifted southwest from Pittsburg Landing a faint foreknowledge of what that end would be went down the road with them. The Northern victory had been purely negative, but it was of far-reaching consequence. For this was one battle which the Confederacy had had to win in order to survive, and the Confederacy had not quite been able to win it. In the long run many things killed the dream of Southern independence; one of them, compacted in the wilderness above the Tennessee River, was made up of the desperate fighting of many Middle Western soldiers, the power of the row of guns on the bluff in the twilight … and, with these, the unbreakable stubbornness of Ulysses S. Grant."
"Certainly Grant’s standing with his superiors was not greatly impaired by Shiloh, the best barometer in this being the attitude of Halleck himself. One of this officer’s distinguishing traits was his everlasting readiness to place blame upon a subordinate in a case wherein much heat had been developed; but to the War Department he gave Grant full exoneration,"
And Catton gives us the Civil War’s larger picture:
"Apparently Halleck really did have some such expedition in mind—for a time, at least—and Grant hoped that he himself would be ordered to lead it, but the expedition never materialized. The expedition never materialized because Federal strategy in the West began to sag just when the opportunity was greatest. It sagged because the old desire to occupy territory of strategic importance kept the high command from realizing that if enemy armies were pulverized the strategic importance of cities, railroad lines and the like would take care of itself."
"The old pattern was being repeated. After Fort Donelson there had been delay and a regrouping, after Shiloh there had been more of it, and it was the same story now; to consolidate its “conquest” of empty land, the high command ignored the final victory that might be won by relentlessly hounding a beaten army into the last ditch. Holding an enormous advantage in man power and equipment, the Federal commanders both in the East and in the West—for McClellan was moving on Richmond with time-killing deliberation—persisted in acting as if the Federal government and its opponent were evenly matched. Its greatest single military asset, the power to set and follow its own course, compelling the enemy to one desperate expedient after another to avoid outright annihilation, was forgotten…Like Halleck, McClellan had planned on the unspoken assumption that there was unlimited time, and in the last week of June Lee showed him his error."
After Shiloh: "The initiative was held by the Confederates, both in the East and in the West. In the East, Lee had simply taken it out of the hands of an overcautious McClellan: in the West, Halleck had given the Confederacy just enough leeway to let it regain the offensive, and the great Union host which had looked so irresistible at the end of May was widely scattered, reduced to the inglorious task of rebuilding and guarding a network of railway lines, occupying cities and country garrisons, worrying about supply depots, and in general waiting to see what the Rebels were going to do next. Looking back in his old age, Grant was to remember the summer and fall of 1862 as his most anxious period in all the war."
Catton makes all that was going on in the West and South relevant to the strategies employed by both the Union and the Confederacy.
"The Federal Armies in Virginia were having trouble, and their troubles affected the armies in Tennessee and Mississippi. All of the plans that had been made would be forgotten, and new ones would have to be made by different people. For the moment, what men did in the West would be determined by what General Lee did in front of Richmond. (The initiative, once surrendered, may be picked up in very faraway places.) During the spring General McClellan had moved up the Virginia Peninsula with a methodical caution fully as great as Halleck’s own. He considered himself heavily outnumbered, and shortly after he fought the hard, inconclusive action at Seven Pines and Fair Oaks he suggested to the War Department that some of General Halleck’s troops might properly be sent to him. Nothing had come of this,"
Catton is never one to glorify war. He provides the gritty details that support his scholarly assertions. This book succeeds both as biography and history.
Grant was not the kind of general like Wellington or Patton who made sure that you knew he was in charge. Because his ego had little need to be fed (contrast this with so many other Union generals who were always jockeying for position), he ofttimes was ignored or easily dismissed. It took Lincoln a while to get Grant on his radar, but his retort to Grant’s detractors (again often other generals) was, in part, “…because he wins.”
This book is very readable. It is scholarly without being pedantic. Catton has the knack for choosing illuminating anecdotes while avoiding long-winded dissertations. I have selected a few excerpts from his discussion of the Battle of Shiloh to give you a sense of his style.
“…the terrible battle of Shiloh was over. Between them, Grant and Buell had lost more than 13,000 men, Beauregard had lost more than 10,000, and the greatest battle ever fought on the North American Continent up to that date had come to a conclusion. It had been a very near thing indeed, and the most that could be said for the Northerners was that they had beaten off an unexpected attack; and yet one of the decisive struggles of the Civil War had been won. The end of the war was a long way off, in April of 1862, yet when the exhausted Confederates drifted southwest from Pittsburg Landing a faint foreknowledge of what that end would be went down the road with them. The Northern victory had been purely negative, but it was of far-reaching consequence. For this was one battle which the Confederacy had had to win in order to survive, and the Confederacy had not quite been able to win it. In the long run many things killed the dream of Southern independence; one of them, compacted in the wilderness above the Tennessee River, was made up of the desperate fighting of many Middle Western soldiers, the power of the row of guns on the bluff in the twilight … and, with these, the unbreakable stubbornness of Ulysses S. Grant."
"Certainly Grant’s standing with his superiors was not greatly impaired by Shiloh, the best barometer in this being the attitude of Halleck himself. One of this officer’s distinguishing traits was his everlasting readiness to place blame upon a subordinate in a case wherein much heat had been developed; but to the War Department he gave Grant full exoneration,"
And Catton gives us the Civil War’s larger picture:
"Apparently Halleck really did have some such expedition in mind—for a time, at least—and Grant hoped that he himself would be ordered to lead it, but the expedition never materialized. The expedition never materialized because Federal strategy in the West began to sag just when the opportunity was greatest. It sagged because the old desire to occupy territory of strategic importance kept the high command from realizing that if enemy armies were pulverized the strategic importance of cities, railroad lines and the like would take care of itself."
"The old pattern was being repeated. After Fort Donelson there had been delay and a regrouping, after Shiloh there had been more of it, and it was the same story now; to consolidate its “conquest” of empty land, the high command ignored the final victory that might be won by relentlessly hounding a beaten army into the last ditch. Holding an enormous advantage in man power and equipment, the Federal commanders both in the East and in the West—for McClellan was moving on Richmond with time-killing deliberation—persisted in acting as if the Federal government and its opponent were evenly matched. Its greatest single military asset, the power to set and follow its own course, compelling the enemy to one desperate expedient after another to avoid outright annihilation, was forgotten…Like Halleck, McClellan had planned on the unspoken assumption that there was unlimited time, and in the last week of June Lee showed him his error."
After Shiloh: "The initiative was held by the Confederates, both in the East and in the West. In the East, Lee had simply taken it out of the hands of an overcautious McClellan: in the West, Halleck had given the Confederacy just enough leeway to let it regain the offensive, and the great Union host which had looked so irresistible at the end of May was widely scattered, reduced to the inglorious task of rebuilding and guarding a network of railway lines, occupying cities and country garrisons, worrying about supply depots, and in general waiting to see what the Rebels were going to do next. Looking back in his old age, Grant was to remember the summer and fall of 1862 as his most anxious period in all the war."
Catton makes all that was going on in the West and South relevant to the strategies employed by both the Union and the Confederacy.
"The Federal Armies in Virginia were having trouble, and their troubles affected the armies in Tennessee and Mississippi. All of the plans that had been made would be forgotten, and new ones would have to be made by different people. For the moment, what men did in the West would be determined by what General Lee did in front of Richmond. (The initiative, once surrendered, may be picked up in very faraway places.) During the spring General McClellan had moved up the Virginia Peninsula with a methodical caution fully as great as Halleck’s own. He considered himself heavily outnumbered, and shortly after he fought the hard, inconclusive action at Seven Pines and Fair Oaks he suggested to the War Department that some of General Halleck’s troops might properly be sent to him. Nothing had come of this,"
Catton is never one to glorify war. He provides the gritty details that support his scholarly assertions. This book succeeds both as biography and history.
November 4, 2017
Pure gold. Of Catton's books, I would consider only A Stillness at Appomattox to be slightly better. Catton is my favorite historian along with Robert Caro. They both write with a modest and poetic tone with a fundamentally deep understanding of their subject matter based on years of research. If you want to write a great non-fiction paragraph then Grant Moves South is an excellent writing resource.
I have read a great deal on Civil War history including Shelby Foote's series and visited many Civil War sites including the three major battles in this book: Ft. Donelson, Shiloh and Vicksburg. This was the most insightful writing on the Battle at Ft. Donelson and the Siege of Vicksburg. I thought Foote's description of the Battle of Shiloh was the best that I have read but Catton's analysis of the aftermath was better. Catton does an excellent job of writing about life in the camps with Grant as the central figure. There is a noticeable humanity to his writing.
Grant himself was admittedly a modest man and guarded in the company of strangers, so there isn't much in the record that is objectionable other than his drinking habits early in his career. I think Catton's treatment of Grant (and Lincoln) is quite favorable. He usually addresses Grant's perceived weaknesses by mentioning what Lincoln thought of him at the time. As far as accusations around Grant's drunkenness, I like this quote from the book.
"Lincoln told how a delegation of Congressmen had come to the White House to urge Grant's removal on the ground that he drank too much. As Eaton remembered the conversation, Lincoln said 'I then began to ask them if they knew what he drank, what brand of whiskey he used, telling them most seriously that I wished they would find out. They conferred with each other and concluded they could not tell what brand he used. I urged them to ascertain and let me know, for if it made fighting generals like Grant I should like to get some of it for distribution.'"
I have read a great deal on Civil War history including Shelby Foote's series and visited many Civil War sites including the three major battles in this book: Ft. Donelson, Shiloh and Vicksburg. This was the most insightful writing on the Battle at Ft. Donelson and the Siege of Vicksburg. I thought Foote's description of the Battle of Shiloh was the best that I have read but Catton's analysis of the aftermath was better. Catton does an excellent job of writing about life in the camps with Grant as the central figure. There is a noticeable humanity to his writing.
Grant himself was admittedly a modest man and guarded in the company of strangers, so there isn't much in the record that is objectionable other than his drinking habits early in his career. I think Catton's treatment of Grant (and Lincoln) is quite favorable. He usually addresses Grant's perceived weaknesses by mentioning what Lincoln thought of him at the time. As far as accusations around Grant's drunkenness, I like this quote from the book.
"Lincoln told how a delegation of Congressmen had come to the White House to urge Grant's removal on the ground that he drank too much. As Eaton remembered the conversation, Lincoln said 'I then began to ask them if they knew what he drank, what brand of whiskey he used, telling them most seriously that I wished they would find out. They conferred with each other and concluded they could not tell what brand he used. I urged them to ascertain and let me know, for if it made fighting generals like Grant I should like to get some of it for distribution.'"
April 29, 2021
Excellent book on Grant's leadership, from taking over the 21st Illinois Regiment, to his victory at Vicksburg. While Grant planned campaigns, organizing his army which included the Navy, and his detail for logistics, Catton goes into depth with the other hats Grant wore, from civil affairs with the populace, politics, stopping contraband and working with civilians from the different areas his army happened to be at, at a particular place and time.
September 12, 2009
Very readable, Mr. Catton brings Grant to life. What I especially like about this book is that the author shows how Grant evolved into a great commander. Yes, he made mistakes. Yes, he sometimes got lucky, but at his core Grant was a humble man of great courage and resolve, who was able to see the road to victory while others, too afraid to fail, could not.
June 11, 2016
I think I have run out of new ways to express my deep appreciation for Bruce Catton's work, but I'll give it a try…
Many readers believe that Grant Moves South is the first of a two-part series by Bruce Catton when, in fact, it is actually the second of a three-part trilogy started by Lloyd Lewis (the first being Captain Sam Grant). Mr. Lewis died and the trilogy was picked up here by Mr. Catton. I've heard it said that Mr. Lewis' work was far superior to Mr. Catton's. I find that hard to imagine, given my complete and utter admiration for Mr. Catton's work, but I'll have to get a hold of the first volume to see for myself. But I digress…
Grant Moves South covers Grant's career from the beginning of the Civil War through Forts Henry and Donelson and Shiloh to his victory at Vicksburg. And, as has been so consistently the case with Mr. Catton's work, the focus is less about the minute details of the battles and more about the growth of the man both during and in between the battles. After all, the Grant of 1861 was nowhere near the general of 1863 or 1865 and Mr. Catton unfolds that growth step by step: his relationships with his fellow generals (especially Halleck, McClernand, and Sherman); his evolving views on how to win the war (i.e., capturing armies is more important than capturing territory); his slow realization that an army could succeed by using such unconventional methods as abandoning supply lines and living off the land. Along the way, Mr. Catton shows us a general who so grew in confidence that it became inevitable that Lincoln would bring him east to whip Bobby Lee (but that story is for another day). And he shows us the heart of the man.
In short, if you are the type of person who doesn't know Ulysses Grant well, who thinks that he won the Civil War through brute force, who is under the impression that he was a butcher, well, you need to read this book, because you will meet someone who was sensitive and gentle-hearted in every possible way… except when it came to defeating the rebellion.
And you know what? Even if you know this Grant or just have even a casual interest in the period, you should read this book, if only to spend time with a master (yet immensely readable) historian.
Many readers believe that Grant Moves South is the first of a two-part series by Bruce Catton when, in fact, it is actually the second of a three-part trilogy started by Lloyd Lewis (the first being Captain Sam Grant). Mr. Lewis died and the trilogy was picked up here by Mr. Catton. I've heard it said that Mr. Lewis' work was far superior to Mr. Catton's. I find that hard to imagine, given my complete and utter admiration for Mr. Catton's work, but I'll have to get a hold of the first volume to see for myself. But I digress…
Grant Moves South covers Grant's career from the beginning of the Civil War through Forts Henry and Donelson and Shiloh to his victory at Vicksburg. And, as has been so consistently the case with Mr. Catton's work, the focus is less about the minute details of the battles and more about the growth of the man both during and in between the battles. After all, the Grant of 1861 was nowhere near the general of 1863 or 1865 and Mr. Catton unfolds that growth step by step: his relationships with his fellow generals (especially Halleck, McClernand, and Sherman); his evolving views on how to win the war (i.e., capturing armies is more important than capturing territory); his slow realization that an army could succeed by using such unconventional methods as abandoning supply lines and living off the land. Along the way, Mr. Catton shows us a general who so grew in confidence that it became inevitable that Lincoln would bring him east to whip Bobby Lee (but that story is for another day). And he shows us the heart of the man.
In short, if you are the type of person who doesn't know Ulysses Grant well, who thinks that he won the Civil War through brute force, who is under the impression that he was a butcher, well, you need to read this book, because you will meet someone who was sensitive and gentle-hearted in every possible way… except when it came to defeating the rebellion.
And you know what? Even if you know this Grant or just have even a casual interest in the period, you should read this book, if only to spend time with a master (yet immensely readable) historian.
March 14, 2013
Good historical writing. I've read Grant's autobiographical Personal Memoirs, and, though it had many good parts in his own words (like why Texas' joining the secession was so wrong), Grant is too humble to talk about what made him such a great man. Some interesting history I had never heard of before, such as Grant's policies to help liberated slaves. Always underestimated and understated, frequently wronged by his superiors and critics, his patience and forbearance are well depicted in this book. To read this book about General Grant is to meet one of great souls to walk the earth.
February 20, 2019
What an excellent read. When one reads this you can’ help but wonder, “how in the hell did the North win?” Seriously. The politics that was going on in the Union army was appalling to say the least. These men, except Lincoln were more interested in assigning friends to ranks and posts they were at best woefully incapable of handling. Nepotism was the word of the day. On top of that the press was definitely not the friend of U. S. Grant. They did everything in their power to have him removed and replaced. Talk about unfounded accusations. You think what the press is reporting today is bad about the current president, they don’t hold a candle to what these me were writing in 61,62 and 63. It didn’t matter how many battle Grant won, they still looked for excused on throwing him out, that is, until the victory at Vicksburg. I’m not going to say they became his champion, but they toned down their vile rhetoric.
Grant’s demeanor and cool temper allowed him to deal with all the back stabbing politics going in Washington and his own army. This man had the patience of Job for he never lost sight of what he was hired to od-win the war. At times, he did request to be relieved but Lincoln always refused the request. Abe knew that he had a fighter, unlike the rest of his generals and one way or the other, Sam would fight the fight that had to be waged. He would either win the war or die in defeat. None of the other top leaders had the courage or foresight Grant possessed. Did he make mistakes? Yes. But then, what general hasn’t. Did he learn from them? Absolutely! With a lot of dash, daring and acquired knowledge, his attack at Vicksburg can go down as one of the greatest strategic moves in the annuls of warfare. It rivals Patton’s war exercise in Louisiana in the 30’s. They did what others said couldn’t be done.
Overall, this is a great addition for any Civil War enthusiast.
Five Stars!
Grant’s demeanor and cool temper allowed him to deal with all the back stabbing politics going in Washington and his own army. This man had the patience of Job for he never lost sight of what he was hired to od-win the war. At times, he did request to be relieved but Lincoln always refused the request. Abe knew that he had a fighter, unlike the rest of his generals and one way or the other, Sam would fight the fight that had to be waged. He would either win the war or die in defeat. None of the other top leaders had the courage or foresight Grant possessed. Did he make mistakes? Yes. But then, what general hasn’t. Did he learn from them? Absolutely! With a lot of dash, daring and acquired knowledge, his attack at Vicksburg can go down as one of the greatest strategic moves in the annuls of warfare. It rivals Patton’s war exercise in Louisiana in the 30’s. They did what others said couldn’t be done.
Overall, this is a great addition for any Civil War enthusiast.
Five Stars!
May 9, 2025
Grant Moves South may be one of the best biographies that I have ever read. What makes this book great is Bruce Catton’s connections to Grant the person. It is one of the few biographies that goes beyond the time line of history and gives insight into Grant’s personality through anecdotal flourishes set in the context of history. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
May 22, 2013
Grant Moves South is the second of a trilogy, starting with Lloyd Lewis' Captain Sam Grant, covering the life of U.S. Grant through the Civil War. This volume picks up on him in June 1861 as a colonel and commander of the 21st Illinois, and covers his career through the fall of Vicksburg in 1863. The author is giving us a relatively plain, straightforward type of guy, who saw, as did few of his contemporaries, the way to victory was through the total destruction of the enemy's armies which he accomplished twice in this volume (Ft. Donelson and Vicksburg). There are difficulties: his relationship with Gen. Halleck, his immmediate superior; General Orders No. 11; and his drinking. Catton deals with them by narrating the facts as he finds them. The first seems to have been a communications breakdown (helped along by Confederate activity on the lines of communication) and the second a blunder of Grant's. On the drinking, Catton refutes most of the stories, yet...well, it's sufficient to know the army wasn't being commanded by someone drunk on his ass. The book tells of Grant's growth as a commander and how he dealt with non-battle situations such as cotton trading, dealings with the occupied people, and the liberation of slaves. In doing so, the author gives much information on the impact of these frequently overlooked issues on the war itself, and we see that Grant's views on a hard war even exceeded, and helped to inspire, Sherman's. All in all, a most informative volume, even if I did get the feeling it was less of an evaluation than an accolade.
April 10, 2008
Ulysses S. Grant is one of the most mis-understood men in American history. Bruce Catton gives us a balanced and thorough picture of the man, his methods, and his character. In this book, the first of a two-part series, Catton gives an in-depth look at Grant from 1861 when he first enlisted to 1863 and the fall of Vicksburg. I've read bits and pieces of the "campaign in the West" as the war in Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Missouri and Arkansas was called, but this is the first time that I have the overall picture firmly fixed in my mind.
I highly recommend this book to everyone who wants to understand the Civil War and American history.
I highly recommend this book to everyone who wants to understand the Civil War and American history.
November 5, 2017
top notch writing - the trouble with Civil War history is that there exists authors who write in order to refight the war - Southern Sympathizers lurk (as in Hollywood, under your bed, etc. ... ) -the "victor" moves on- the "loser" maintains a grudge and scrawls on the s.h. walls - I've read Grant's memoirs but Catton's book makes the events so much clearer (perhaps it's the repetition?). love a book that pulls the reader along - little effort required unless it is to put the book down.
August 18, 2024
"To move South was Grant’s compelling motive, then and thereafter" - Catton
GRANT MOVES SOUTH is Pulitzer-awarded historian Bruce Catton’s second volume in his tripartite chronicle of Ulysses Grant’s military career. In this popular narrative history, Catton writes both a character profile of the renown general and a history of the Union Army’s Southern campaign from Kentucky into the Mississippi Valley between 1861-1863. Catton marvelously characterizes Grant’s progression into a hardened general who understood the importance of “immediate and unconditional surrender” of the enemy. From the opening salvos on Forts Donelson and Henry to the siege of Vicksburg, Catton illuminates the maturation of the man who “understood the necessity for bringing the infinite power of the growing nation to bear on the desperate weakness” of the Confederacy.
GRANT MOVES SOUTH is Pulitzer-awarded historian Bruce Catton’s second volume in his tripartite chronicle of Ulysses Grant’s military career. In this popular narrative history, Catton writes both a character profile of the renown general and a history of the Union Army’s Southern campaign from Kentucky into the Mississippi Valley between 1861-1863. Catton marvelously characterizes Grant’s progression into a hardened general who understood the importance of “immediate and unconditional surrender” of the enemy. From the opening salvos on Forts Donelson and Henry to the siege of Vicksburg, Catton illuminates the maturation of the man who “understood the necessity for bringing the infinite power of the growing nation to bear on the desperate weakness” of the Confederacy.
February 10, 2021
This was a compelling read. This is my 5th book concerning Grant. I am happy that it is the latest because I appreciate the insight the author has given me for the campaigns as well as the individuals involved.
September 17, 2024
Very good read for Civil War buffs. This Bruce Catton classic tells the story of Grant's Western campaign culminating in the capture of Vicksburg. It covers his early career obstacles and how he overcame them to become the most famous Union general of the war.
October 17, 2008
Fascinating look at the rise of U.S Grant. from a nobody to commander of western theater during the Civil War through the siege at Vicksburg and the battle at Chatanooga.
Grant was this quiet unimpressive fellow, but his coolness under pressure ("Ol' Ulyss don't scare worth a damn!" one soldier is reputed to have declared) had this stablizing influence on those around him, most especially the high-strung W.T. Sherman.
Lincoln was his biggest defender, and when critics wanted Grant replaced after the ultra-bloody Shilo, Lincoln said simply "I can't spare this man. He fights."
Anything by Bruce Catton is a very good read
Grant was this quiet unimpressive fellow, but his coolness under pressure ("Ol' Ulyss don't scare worth a damn!" one soldier is reputed to have declared) had this stablizing influence on those around him, most especially the high-strung W.T. Sherman.
Lincoln was his biggest defender, and when critics wanted Grant replaced after the ultra-bloody Shilo, Lincoln said simply "I can't spare this man. He fights."
Anything by Bruce Catton is a very good read
December 24, 2025
“When he wrote his Memoirs, Grant chuckled mildly about the frontier schoolrooms in which, as a child, he had been taught over and over again that a ‘noun is the name of a thing.’ He was grappling with the names of things now, and the grapple was like Jacob’s wrestling with an angel, for the names were important. Far ahead of him, not visible but perhaps dimly sensed, dependent in a strange way on the very campaign which he now was trying to repair, there might be a day when people of good will, like himself, would use no abraded epithets but would simply talk about human beings.”
Save for George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, there may be no greater hero in all of American history than Ulysses S. Grant. A man of stunning moral character, military cunning, and – the most important aspect of all great men – adaptability who helped save his nation. He began the Civil War a staunch Unionist, lukewarm Democrat, and a loyal soldier who was neither a proponent of slavery and inequality nor in an especial rush to end it. Even more than that he was a nobody whose only achievement seemed to be failing at everything except for his marriage. By the time the curtain closed at Appomattox, Grant had subdued three Rebel armies, destroyed the Confederacy inside and out, and had aided a great social upheaval that the would continue to foster when he was elected President just a few years later.
Such a man is well worthy of exploration and he has seen quite a few biographies seeking to explain the determined man with the brain for war. In this volume, Grant Takes Command, Bruce Catton tackles the first half of his Civil War career, from his modest beginnings to his campaign against Vicksburg, perhaps the most impressive military operation in all of American history.
The bounds of this work are necessarily limited; Catton begins with Grant’s taking command of the 21st Illinois (a previous volume by a different author covered his prewar years) and ends just after the close of the Vicksburg campaign. This small scope gives Catton a lot of space to work with and really gives you a better idea of how Grant’s views on slavery and his tactics slowly changed over time. Battles and campaigns are given plenty of room here as well, although they all play out mostly from Grant’s perspective (Douglas Freeman’s Lee seems to have been an influence). The result is that this work feels quite a bit more in-depth than many cradle-to-grave biographies you will read.
Central to Catton’s work is Grant’s shifting perspective on slavery and the enslaved. He gives us a picture of a man who doesn’t feel especially prejudiced but who also believes that a war against slavery was outside the bounds of what was constitutionally legal. As the war shifts, however, he takes more and more steps against the institution, and, by the time of the Vicksburg campaign, he is arming black regiments and making arrangements for refugees with the idea that it will eventually lead to their citizenship. Certainly, his ideas might strike us in the 21st century as prejudiced (especially his harshly anti-semetic General Order no. 11 which Catton does not shy away from exploring) but it is clear that Grant is a man willing to change his views and who is far ahead of the curve given the time that he lived.
The same can be said of his war making prowess. When other generals seemed content to rest on their laurels early in the war, Grant was constantly pursuing his enemy, biting at their heels. Momentum was his greatest weapon and he made great use of it. Yet he was prone to blunders and overconfidence early on (though not anywhere near as fatal as is often exaggerated). Catton paints a picture of a man that learns from experience and who never seems to quit. His early attempts to take Vicksburg all ended in failure but Grant kept pushing. It was this dogged determination that would ultimately be his greatest strength.
Coming in close second was Grant’s ability to take advantage of his opponents every blunder. When Confederate forces at Fort Donelson nearly achieved a breakout, Grant capitalized on his opponent’s hesitation to counterattack and sealed their fate. Once across the river below Vicksburg. Grant made excellent use of feints, cavalry raids, and maneuver to thoroughly confuse his foe and defeat a divided enemy that, on paper, outnumbered him.
This is definitely Catton’s most historian-esque work. He makes less use of prose than usual (though there are still some excellent passages like the one above) and really spends much of his time picking apart the man himself. He strikes a good balance here; Catton is clearly quite fond of Grant and gives him his due when he deserves it while also criticizing his mistakes. It's very even-handed and there is a reason why this volume (and the next) is still the gold-standard for military-focused Grant biographies.
Ulysses S. Grant has thankfully seen a resurgence in popularity in the last few years. A series of new biographies which take a more holistic view of the man dispel the myth that he was a drunken incompetent who won the Civil War by sheer numbers alone and forced Reconstruction upon the South during his corrupt administration. Yet, Catton was ahead of the curve here. Despite being 65 years old, his book easily remains among the best and most accurate, even with more recent scholarship in mind.
This is an excellent historical work with a tight focus and solid writing. Definitely one of the best biographies I have ever read and a great way to finish off the year.
Save for George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, there may be no greater hero in all of American history than Ulysses S. Grant. A man of stunning moral character, military cunning, and – the most important aspect of all great men – adaptability who helped save his nation. He began the Civil War a staunch Unionist, lukewarm Democrat, and a loyal soldier who was neither a proponent of slavery and inequality nor in an especial rush to end it. Even more than that he was a nobody whose only achievement seemed to be failing at everything except for his marriage. By the time the curtain closed at Appomattox, Grant had subdued three Rebel armies, destroyed the Confederacy inside and out, and had aided a great social upheaval that the would continue to foster when he was elected President just a few years later.
Such a man is well worthy of exploration and he has seen quite a few biographies seeking to explain the determined man with the brain for war. In this volume, Grant Takes Command, Bruce Catton tackles the first half of his Civil War career, from his modest beginnings to his campaign against Vicksburg, perhaps the most impressive military operation in all of American history.
The bounds of this work are necessarily limited; Catton begins with Grant’s taking command of the 21st Illinois (a previous volume by a different author covered his prewar years) and ends just after the close of the Vicksburg campaign. This small scope gives Catton a lot of space to work with and really gives you a better idea of how Grant’s views on slavery and his tactics slowly changed over time. Battles and campaigns are given plenty of room here as well, although they all play out mostly from Grant’s perspective (Douglas Freeman’s Lee seems to have been an influence). The result is that this work feels quite a bit more in-depth than many cradle-to-grave biographies you will read.
Central to Catton’s work is Grant’s shifting perspective on slavery and the enslaved. He gives us a picture of a man who doesn’t feel especially prejudiced but who also believes that a war against slavery was outside the bounds of what was constitutionally legal. As the war shifts, however, he takes more and more steps against the institution, and, by the time of the Vicksburg campaign, he is arming black regiments and making arrangements for refugees with the idea that it will eventually lead to their citizenship. Certainly, his ideas might strike us in the 21st century as prejudiced (especially his harshly anti-semetic General Order no. 11 which Catton does not shy away from exploring) but it is clear that Grant is a man willing to change his views and who is far ahead of the curve given the time that he lived.
The same can be said of his war making prowess. When other generals seemed content to rest on their laurels early in the war, Grant was constantly pursuing his enemy, biting at their heels. Momentum was his greatest weapon and he made great use of it. Yet he was prone to blunders and overconfidence early on (though not anywhere near as fatal as is often exaggerated). Catton paints a picture of a man that learns from experience and who never seems to quit. His early attempts to take Vicksburg all ended in failure but Grant kept pushing. It was this dogged determination that would ultimately be his greatest strength.
Coming in close second was Grant’s ability to take advantage of his opponents every blunder. When Confederate forces at Fort Donelson nearly achieved a breakout, Grant capitalized on his opponent’s hesitation to counterattack and sealed their fate. Once across the river below Vicksburg. Grant made excellent use of feints, cavalry raids, and maneuver to thoroughly confuse his foe and defeat a divided enemy that, on paper, outnumbered him.
This is definitely Catton’s most historian-esque work. He makes less use of prose than usual (though there are still some excellent passages like the one above) and really spends much of his time picking apart the man himself. He strikes a good balance here; Catton is clearly quite fond of Grant and gives him his due when he deserves it while also criticizing his mistakes. It's very even-handed and there is a reason why this volume (and the next) is still the gold-standard for military-focused Grant biographies.
Ulysses S. Grant has thankfully seen a resurgence in popularity in the last few years. A series of new biographies which take a more holistic view of the man dispel the myth that he was a drunken incompetent who won the Civil War by sheer numbers alone and forced Reconstruction upon the South during his corrupt administration. Yet, Catton was ahead of the curve here. Despite being 65 years old, his book easily remains among the best and most accurate, even with more recent scholarship in mind.
This is an excellent historical work with a tight focus and solid writing. Definitely one of the best biographies I have ever read and a great way to finish off the year.
December 9, 2023
"More and more, the Northern soldiers this summer were coming to feel that they were in a foreign land, whose people were not merely hostile but were deserving of rough treatment, their very foreignness being, somehow, just cause for blame. The Southland was set apart, not by the fact that it was in rebellion, but by its strangeness; its fields and houses were not like the fields and houses of the Middle West, its habits of speech and action were different—outlandishly different, to Western eyes—and the strangeness and irritating differences all seemed to center around the existence of human slavery.
[...]
If all of this had represented nothing more than the arrogant provincialism of young men who had never before been fifty miles away from home it would not have meant much, but it went a great deal deeper than that; it marked the beginning of a profound shift in Army opinion. Not only were the soldiers beginning to believe in hard war; they were seeing slavery as the justification for this belief, were blaming it for the war itself, and were coming to feel that slavery must be stamped out along with rebellion as if the two were indeed different aspects of the same thing. As the generals grew more ruthless, the enlisted men (not to mention the company officers who reflected their viewpoint so completely) ran on ahead of them and turned the war into a conflict which was certain to destroy the peculiar institution."
"Grant had learned much in war’s brutal school, but his military education was still incomplete. Now he was about to learn a great deal more—at prodigious cost to himself and to some thousands of young men who, without quite realizing it, had joined the Union Army in order to pay for his education."
"The Negro at the moment had a peculiar status, somewhere between slavery and freedom; Grant believed that if the Negro could show his worth as an independent laborer he could later be given a musket and could be used as a soldier, and eventually, if this worked out well, he could even become a citizen and have the right to vote."
"The terms of surrender did not allow Confederate officers to take their body servants with them when they left, but one of Pemberton’s staff came to Grant saying that in most cases the body servants actually wanted to go; they had been brought up in the family, and it would be cruel to enforce a separation. Might not those loyal, faithful servitors who could not bear to be parted from Old Massa go along with the officers whom they worshiped? Grant laid down the rule in a note to McPherson:
I want the Negroes to understand that they are free men. If they are then anxious to go with their masters I do not see the necessity of preventing it. Some going might benefit our cause by telling that the Yankees set them all free. It is not necessary that you should give yourself any trouble about Negroes being enticed away from officers. Everyone that loses a Negro will insist that he has been enticed off, because otherwise his Negro would not leave.
… because otherwise there was something very wrong indeed with the whole legend which the white man had built up about the benefits, to those who were owned, of the institution of slavery; and while McPherson did his best to be guided by this order, he could hear the death rattle of the ancient institution which both he and Grant were trying to destroy. The first warning came from General John Logan, the stout Illinois Democrat who had never had any abolitionist tradition in his blood and who, when war started, was thought to be a man who was as likely to go with the South as with the North. Two days after Vicksburg had surrendered, Logan wrote to Rawlins to voice a hard protest “against the manner in which Confederate officers are permitted to intimidate their servants.” The Negro who was asked if he wanted to go with his master, said Logan, was asked in the presence of the man who had always owned him; knowing that the men in blue uniforms would probably take the master’s word over his own. This struck Logan as wrong, and he complained that “the manner in which this is done is conniving at furnishing Negroes to every officer who is a prisoner in Vicksburg.” Grant told McPherson to “give instruction that no passes are to be given to Negroes to accompany their masters in leaving the city,” and on July 7 McPherson sent a note to Pemberton:
I am constrained, in consequence of the abuse of the privilege which was granted to officers to take out one private servant (colored) each, to withdraw it altogether, except in cases of families and sick and disabled officers. The abuses which I speak of are: 1. Officers coming here with their servants and intimidating them, instead of sending them by themselves to be questioned. 2. Citizens have been seen and heard in the streets urging Negroes who were evidently not servants to go with the officers. 3. Negroes have also been brought here who have been at work on the fortifications."
[...]
If all of this had represented nothing more than the arrogant provincialism of young men who had never before been fifty miles away from home it would not have meant much, but it went a great deal deeper than that; it marked the beginning of a profound shift in Army opinion. Not only were the soldiers beginning to believe in hard war; they were seeing slavery as the justification for this belief, were blaming it for the war itself, and were coming to feel that slavery must be stamped out along with rebellion as if the two were indeed different aspects of the same thing. As the generals grew more ruthless, the enlisted men (not to mention the company officers who reflected their viewpoint so completely) ran on ahead of them and turned the war into a conflict which was certain to destroy the peculiar institution."
"Grant had learned much in war’s brutal school, but his military education was still incomplete. Now he was about to learn a great deal more—at prodigious cost to himself and to some thousands of young men who, without quite realizing it, had joined the Union Army in order to pay for his education."
"The Negro at the moment had a peculiar status, somewhere between slavery and freedom; Grant believed that if the Negro could show his worth as an independent laborer he could later be given a musket and could be used as a soldier, and eventually, if this worked out well, he could even become a citizen and have the right to vote."
"The terms of surrender did not allow Confederate officers to take their body servants with them when they left, but one of Pemberton’s staff came to Grant saying that in most cases the body servants actually wanted to go; they had been brought up in the family, and it would be cruel to enforce a separation. Might not those loyal, faithful servitors who could not bear to be parted from Old Massa go along with the officers whom they worshiped? Grant laid down the rule in a note to McPherson:
I want the Negroes to understand that they are free men. If they are then anxious to go with their masters I do not see the necessity of preventing it. Some going might benefit our cause by telling that the Yankees set them all free. It is not necessary that you should give yourself any trouble about Negroes being enticed away from officers. Everyone that loses a Negro will insist that he has been enticed off, because otherwise his Negro would not leave.
… because otherwise there was something very wrong indeed with the whole legend which the white man had built up about the benefits, to those who were owned, of the institution of slavery; and while McPherson did his best to be guided by this order, he could hear the death rattle of the ancient institution which both he and Grant were trying to destroy. The first warning came from General John Logan, the stout Illinois Democrat who had never had any abolitionist tradition in his blood and who, when war started, was thought to be a man who was as likely to go with the South as with the North. Two days after Vicksburg had surrendered, Logan wrote to Rawlins to voice a hard protest “against the manner in which Confederate officers are permitted to intimidate their servants.” The Negro who was asked if he wanted to go with his master, said Logan, was asked in the presence of the man who had always owned him; knowing that the men in blue uniforms would probably take the master’s word over his own. This struck Logan as wrong, and he complained that “the manner in which this is done is conniving at furnishing Negroes to every officer who is a prisoner in Vicksburg.” Grant told McPherson to “give instruction that no passes are to be given to Negroes to accompany their masters in leaving the city,” and on July 7 McPherson sent a note to Pemberton:
I am constrained, in consequence of the abuse of the privilege which was granted to officers to take out one private servant (colored) each, to withdraw it altogether, except in cases of families and sick and disabled officers. The abuses which I speak of are: 1. Officers coming here with their servants and intimidating them, instead of sending them by themselves to be questioned. 2. Citizens have been seen and heard in the streets urging Negroes who were evidently not servants to go with the officers. 3. Negroes have also been brought here who have been at work on the fortifications."
January 5, 2018
An excellent, detailed assessment of Grant's Civil War career, from his appointment as Colonel of the 21st Illinois in 1861 to the end of the Vicksburg campaign in July 1863.
I'm somewhat surprised by the people who lump Catton in with Shelby Foote as part of the "non-scholarly, purely narrative Civil War history" camp. This is my first Catton book, but the footnotes and scholarship here aren't terrible at all, though perhaps not prodigious by today's standards, and Catton hardly purely lifts from Grant's own Memoirs - and where he does, he independently evaluates what Grant said after the fact against the historical record.
More importantly, Catton manages to tie the various elements of the story into an entertaining and coherent narrative that traces Grant's wartime "education" and evolution, demonstrating vividly how the man who ran the brilliant Vicksburg campaign was not the same unassuming man who took command of the 21st Illinois in the spring of 1861, and how each experience in between helped grow and mature Grant as a commander. Catton is full of praise without being hagiographic, and his treatment of the entire drunkenness angle is far more nuanced and even-handed than in the recent White biography, which tends to dismiss everything as a false rumor.
The only reason I took off a star is because the Kindle version (I assume it's only the Kindle version) is a bit of a mess. Lots of typographic errors and the maps are utterly misplaced throughout the book - having the Shiloh map while reading about the end of the Vicksburg campaign, that sort of thing - meaning one may need to have Google Maps or an atlas of the Civil War close at hand.
I'm somewhat surprised by the people who lump Catton in with Shelby Foote as part of the "non-scholarly, purely narrative Civil War history" camp. This is my first Catton book, but the footnotes and scholarship here aren't terrible at all, though perhaps not prodigious by today's standards, and Catton hardly purely lifts from Grant's own Memoirs - and where he does, he independently evaluates what Grant said after the fact against the historical record.
More importantly, Catton manages to tie the various elements of the story into an entertaining and coherent narrative that traces Grant's wartime "education" and evolution, demonstrating vividly how the man who ran the brilliant Vicksburg campaign was not the same unassuming man who took command of the 21st Illinois in the spring of 1861, and how each experience in between helped grow and mature Grant as a commander. Catton is full of praise without being hagiographic, and his treatment of the entire drunkenness angle is far more nuanced and even-handed than in the recent White biography, which tends to dismiss everything as a false rumor.
The only reason I took off a star is because the Kindle version (I assume it's only the Kindle version) is a bit of a mess. Lots of typographic errors and the maps are utterly misplaced throughout the book - having the Shiloh map while reading about the end of the Vicksburg campaign, that sort of thing - meaning one may need to have Google Maps or an atlas of the Civil War close at hand.
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May 5, 2024 Grant and most other men were children of their time and, without thinking, used derisive words denying human dignity to whole groups of people whose right to claim human dignity was what was chiefly at stake in this war. Like nearly everyone else, Grant could thoughtlessly say "Jews" when he meant scheming fixers who would have sold their own mothers for gain, and he could say "Darkeys" when he meant pathetically displaced men and women who were struggling upward to the point where people might recognize their decency as human beings. He could say "Jews" when he struck angrily at the sharpers, and he could say "Darkeys" when he devoted priceless time and effort that should have gone to a military campaign to an attempt to help people who were climbing a hard ladder. When he wrote his Memoirs, Grant chuckled mildly about the frontier schoolrooms in which, as a child, he had been taught over and over again that "a noun is the name of a thing." He was grappling with the names of things now, and the grapple was like Jacob's, wrestling with the angel, for the names were important. Far ahead of him, not visible but perhaps dimly sensed, dependent in a strange way on the very campaign which he now was trying to repair, there might be a day when people of good will, like himself, would use no abraded epithets but would simply talk about human beings.
Bruce Catton has a way with words. His books are consistently some of the most beautifully written and deeply thought-out pieces of Civil War history. This one was no exception
Bruce Catton has a way with words. His books are consistently some of the most beautifully written and deeply thought-out pieces of Civil War history. This one was no exception
February 9, 2020
Grant Moves South tracks Ulysses S. Grant's early career in the Civil War to just after the surrender of Vicksburg in July, 1863. In the early phase, Grant was a nobody; a washed up ex-US Army captain who was appointed to command a volunteer regiment. Grant was able to turn a bunch of citizen-soldiers into the army which beat the Confederates in the western theater of the war.
According to Goodreads.com, this is a #2 in the series, but I think it is more like the first. Catton accurately described and highlighted Grant was a humble soldier and remained a humble person throughout his army career, even though he was promoted to Major General of the Regulars and then Lieutenant General. At that point, out of respect for General Washington, no one ever held the same rank as the great man until Grant. A lot of people make Grant out as a man of destiny from the outset, but Catton reminded us that in 1862, Grant was nearly sidelined due to Army politics.
It is also interesting to read President Lincoln's first letter to Grant. The two had never met or corresponded until after Vicksburg. Lincoln had been watching Grant's maneuvers and had thought Grant had made a tactical error. But when Grant was proven right, Lincoln's letter to Grant said: "I am glad that you were right and I was wrong." What a way to highlight two humble men who led the greatest nation on earth during its worst time in history.
According to Goodreads.com, this is a #2 in the series, but I think it is more like the first. Catton accurately described and highlighted Grant was a humble soldier and remained a humble person throughout his army career, even though he was promoted to Major General of the Regulars and then Lieutenant General. At that point, out of respect for General Washington, no one ever held the same rank as the great man until Grant. A lot of people make Grant out as a man of destiny from the outset, but Catton reminded us that in 1862, Grant was nearly sidelined due to Army politics.
It is also interesting to read President Lincoln's first letter to Grant. The two had never met or corresponded until after Vicksburg. Lincoln had been watching Grant's maneuvers and had thought Grant had made a tactical error. But when Grant was proven right, Lincoln's letter to Grant said: "I am glad that you were right and I was wrong." What a way to highlight two humble men who led the greatest nation on earth during its worst time in history.
April 10, 2020
I thoroughly enjoyed this well researched book about General Grant. I was amazed to learn about the organizational problems that he had to deal with...especially with his managers that were over him. You would think that after his stunning victory at Shilo (aka Pittsburgh Landing) that he wouldn't have to deal with the criticism that was poured upon him. In fact, it got so bad that he asked to be relieved of his command and to leave the army.
What it really came down to is that General Grant saw that you had to fight this war to DESTROY the Confederate Army. While his upper management saw this as being a war to control strategic points on a map. His upper management understood the 'old' way of fighting and General Grant understood that the 'old' ways would not win this war. And because of that, he received so much grief.
I also found it interesting that the rumors that he was a hard drinking, drunk of a man, were just that...rumors. Those rumors are still alive today, as I went into reading this book thinking that General Grant was a 'drunk', but a good fighter. In this well researched book, you can see where those rumors started....and what I can say, is that it is all a game of politics and hatred for people that have success. Not much has changed in these many years...well, that is because we are dealing with human nature. And human nature is pretty predictable.
Again...a great book. I really enjoyed it.
What it really came down to is that General Grant saw that you had to fight this war to DESTROY the Confederate Army. While his upper management saw this as being a war to control strategic points on a map. His upper management understood the 'old' way of fighting and General Grant understood that the 'old' ways would not win this war. And because of that, he received so much grief.
I also found it interesting that the rumors that he was a hard drinking, drunk of a man, were just that...rumors. Those rumors are still alive today, as I went into reading this book thinking that General Grant was a 'drunk', but a good fighter. In this well researched book, you can see where those rumors started....and what I can say, is that it is all a game of politics and hatred for people that have success. Not much has changed in these many years...well, that is because we are dealing with human nature. And human nature is pretty predictable.
Again...a great book. I really enjoyed it.
June 13, 2020
‘I cannot spare this man, he fights.’ Lincoln’s response to those who would cashier Grant.
Grant’s fine qualities, his leadership and willingness to engage in battle, were on display at the outset of the war, leading to his successes at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. Shortly after these successes, however, his early tendency to only focus on what he was going to do to the enemy, and lose sight of what the enemy was planning to do to him (sounds like somebody we know) almost led him to disaster at Shiloh, but he averted defeat and eventually turned the tide of the battle by his aggressive instincts and the valiant effort of his men. After Shiloh, Grant was more disciplined in his assessments of the enemy, and just a year later, his resourcefulness paid off in the greatest campaign of his career, the taking of Vicksburg, which ends this book.
Grant’s fine qualities, his leadership and willingness to engage in battle, were on display at the outset of the war, leading to his successes at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. Shortly after these successes, however, his early tendency to only focus on what he was going to do to the enemy, and lose sight of what the enemy was planning to do to him (sounds like somebody we know) almost led him to disaster at Shiloh, but he averted defeat and eventually turned the tide of the battle by his aggressive instincts and the valiant effort of his men. After Shiloh, Grant was more disciplined in his assessments of the enemy, and just a year later, his resourcefulness paid off in the greatest campaign of his career, the taking of Vicksburg, which ends this book.
January 30, 2021
Excellent biography of Grant covering the first 2 years of the war. Grant is the greatest general in the Civil War, and on the short list for greatest general in US history. In this book, we see his growth from a Colonel commanding an Illinois regiment, promotion to General, defeat at Belmont, and his victories at Fts. Henry and Donnelson, Shiloh, and Vicksburg. Along the way we see him begin to develop the strategy that would eventually win the Civil War, and how that strategy was different from other Union leaders. We also see him learn from his losses and failures.
This is the second of a three-volume military biography of Grant. Of all the single volumes in multi-volume biographies that I've read lately (Washington, Jefferson, Grant), I liked this one the best.
This is the second of a three-volume military biography of Grant. Of all the single volumes in multi-volume biographies that I've read lately (Washington, Jefferson, Grant), I liked this one the best.
June 22, 2023
This is a great book, covering Grant's life and leadership from the victories that made him famous at Forts Henry and Donaldson, through the bloody near-debacle of Shiloh and on to Grant's great victory at Vicksburg. Catton clearly admires Grant as a good man endowed with courage, commonsense, a natural and quietly inspiring leadership style, and a great understanding of tactics and strategy. He was one of the first general, on either side of the conflict, to realize that the Union would win not by taking and occupying territory, but destroying Confederate armies.
This book is over sixty years old, but it feels fresh and I enjoyed reading it very much. Excited to move on to the next volume.
This book is over sixty years old, but it feels fresh and I enjoyed reading it very much. Excited to move on to the next volume.
January 30, 2025
An excellent history of the period of the Civil War from the beginning of hostilities through the Battle of Vicksburg. Focus is on General Grant. I've been a Civil War buff since my Dad took me to the Shiloh Battlefield when I was 12 years old, but this is my first encounter with historian Bruce Catton and he is a tremendous writer. Obviously, the well-known events are covered in detail such as the battles for Fort Henry, Fort Donaldson, Shiloh, and the Union's movements into Mississippi but there is so much more. A rich tapestry of novel facts and arguments that were so interesting to me. This book was written in 1960 but you know what? The history of the Civil War hasn't changed in the last 65 years lol. Great read.
June 9, 2018
Too often contemporary historians are more interested in acting as iconoclasts than they are in presenting true historical characters. They don't just present the personage "warts and all", they present nothing but the warts. Yet, the truly great biographies are the ones that compel us to honor the great people in history--from Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans to David McCullough's John Adams. In spite of missteps and weaknesses, these characters triumphed. Bruce Catton's Grant Moves South qualifies as a great biography. I found newfound respect for Ulysses S. Grant through reading this book. I believe you will too.
June 4, 2025
I am not from the USA. I have been keen to read about a USA President who determined that the USA taking Texas from Mexico (to put it hopefully not too crudely) was "unjust". Reading this book I find that Lincoln also had misgivings. And so, to the book, it's level of detail is not for the faint of heart. The book is about a critical period in Grant's life (and that of the USA) and it is well-rendered, sufficiently so that I am inclined to read the earlier and later biographic periods.
August 3, 2017
One Inconvenient Quibble
I suspect this may apply only to the Kindle ebook version but the internal links to the maps, nice to refer to as the armies took position, we're mixed up. The link to the map of Shiloh was not of Shiloh but of the Vicksburg. The link for Vicksburg went to western Tennessee and so forth.
I suspect this may apply only to the Kindle ebook version but the internal links to the maps, nice to refer to as the armies took position, we're mixed up. The link to the map of Shiloh was not of Shiloh but of the Vicksburg. The link for Vicksburg went to western Tennessee and so forth.
June 16, 2018
Great reviews above. I read this as context for research on a 2x great-grandfather and agree wholeheartedly about the humanity Catton brings to the stories. What painstaking research he used to provide that detail! For me, this was a page turner. Years ago, I read Grant’s auto-biography and I think that I will re-visit that now.
September 18, 2019
Masterful history of Grant's emergence as a commander
Bruce Carton is good at crafting a popular history, and here makes as solid case for Grant's specia! genius, his probable role as the first general to intuit and grasp the nature of modern industrialized warfare. There is solid workmanlike realism, and no false romanticism in how Grant wages war.
Bruce Carton is good at crafting a popular history, and here makes as solid case for Grant's specia! genius, his probable role as the first general to intuit and grasp the nature of modern industrialized warfare. There is solid workmanlike realism, and no false romanticism in how Grant wages war.
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