As the American Civil War recedes into the past, popular fascination continues to rise. Once a matter that chiefly concerned veterans, separately organized North and South, who gathered to refight old battles and to memorialize the heroes and victims of war, the Civil War has gradually become part of a collective heritage. Issues raised by the war, including its causes and consequences, reverberate through contemporary society. Family and community connections with the war exist everywhere, as do battlefields, memorials, and other physical reminders of the conflict. We, as Americans, are fascinated by the sheer magnitude of the war fought over thousands of miles of American soil and resulting in awesome casualties. It was a gigantic national drama enacted by people who seem both contemporary and remote. Here for the first time, leading Civil War scholars gather to sort out the fact and fiction of our collective memories. Contributors include Pulitzer Prize-winner Mark E. Neely, Jr., Alan T. Nolan, John Y. Simon, James I. 'Bud' Robertson, Jr., Gary W. Gallagher, Joseph T. Glatthaar, and Ervin L. Jordan, Jr.

Each November, hundreds of Lincoln and Civil War enthusiasts mark the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address by gathering together in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania for the annual Lincoln Forum -- an acclaimed scholarly symposium featuring groundbreaking presentations by the nation's leading historians. The scholars and attendees alike make the pilgrimage for one reason: to re-interpret, re-examine, and re-discover the most intriguing, endlessly fascinating, figure of the American past, Abraham Lincoln.

Now the best of the most recent Lincoln Forum lectures -- some of which have been broadcast on C-SPAN'S "Book TV" network -- have been collected in one volume for the enjoyment and enlightenment of readers everywhere. The essays offer important re-examinations of Lincoln as military leader, communicator, family man, and icon. The scholarship is new, the voices are sure, and the results are likely to both break new ground and provoke new debate.

James M. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom, contributes a timely essay on Lincoln's record as commander-in-chief. Craig L. Symonds, the distinguished naval historian, analyzes Lincoln and the technological revolution that transformed his Civil War navy. John F. Marszalek, acclaimed biographer of William T. Sherman, examines Lincoln's important relationship with that controversial but productive military hero. And Jean H. Baker, the leading authority on Mary Todd Lincoln, offers a definitive assessment of the frequently mis-portrayed Lincoln marriage, and a new analysis of the much-maligned First Lady.

In another important chapter, historian Hans L. Trefousse finds compelling new evidence of Lincoln's surprisingpopularity while he lived; military expert J. Tracy Power looks at the Confederacy's Army of Northern Virginia in the wake of the watershed presidential election of 1864, which returned Lincoln to power; award-winning author and historian John C.Waugh pens an appreciation of Lincoln's unique talents as writer and communicator; Gerald Prokopowicz, historian of the Lincoln Museum, takes a new look at Lincoln's high expectations for the Army of the Potomac after Gettysburg; and Frank J.Williams, chairman of the Lincoln Forum, explores the often under-appreciated influence of the women in Lincoln's life.

Each year, hundreds of scholars and other enthusiasts mark the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address by gathering together in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania for the Lincoln Forum. There, leading historians reinterpret and rediscover the legacy of Abraham Lincoln. Now the best recent Lincoln Forum essays are available in one volume, offering important reexaminations of Lincoln as military leader, communicator, family man, and icon.

The contributors include James M. McPherson, Craig L. Symonds, John F. Marszalek, Jean H. Baker, Hans L. Trefousse, J. Tracy Power, John C. Waugh, Gerald Prokopowicz, and Frank J. Williams.

In this powerful and moving memoir, Robert Beecham tells of his Civil War experiences, both as an enlisted man in the fabled Iron Brigade of the Army of the Potomac and as an officer commanding a newly raised African-American unit. Written in 1902, Beecham recounts his war experiences with a keen eye toward the daily life of the soldier, the suffering and brutality of war, and the remarkable acts of valor, by soldiers both black and white, that punctuated the grind of long campaigns. As If It Were Glory is an unforgettable account of the Civil War, unclouded by sentimentality and insistent that the nation remain true to the cause for which it fought. Beecham's war was a long one-he served from May 1861 through the completion of the war in the spring of 1865. With the Iron Brigade he saw action at such momentous battles as Chancellorsville and then at Gettysburg, where he was taken prisoner. Returned to service in a prison exchange, Beecham was promoted to first lieutenant of the 23rd United States Colored Troops whom he lead in fierce fighting at the Battle of the Crater. At the Crater, Beecham was wounded, again captured, and, after eight months in a Confederate prison, escaped to find his way to Annapolis just before the conclusion of the war. In his narrative, Beecham celebrates the ingenuity of the enlisted man at the expense of officers who are often arrogant or incompetent. He also chides the altered recollections of fellow veterans who remember only triumphs and forgot defeats. In one of the most powerful parts of his memoir, Beecham pays tribute to the valor of the African Americans who fought under his command and insists that they were "the bravest and best soldiers that ever lived."

By late 1878, after a year and a half abroad, Ulysses S. Grant had visited every country in Europe, and he was homesick. "I have seen nothing to make me regret that I am an American. Our country: its resources; energy, inginuity and intelligence of the people, &c. is more appreciated abroad than at home." Grant decided to return through Asia. After "a delightful run" to Dublin and northern Ireland, he left Paris with his wife Julia, son Frederick, and a few friends in January, 1879. Heading east, Grant kept a travel diary. On the voyage to Bombay, travelers socialized on deck. "Four of the lady passengers and one of the gentlemen Amature Artists, amused themselves by sketching me." Crossing India overland, the Grant party rode elephants, visited the Taj Mahal, and witnessed Hindu ceremonies. From Calcutta, Grant sailed for Burma, Singapore, and Siam, where he found young King Chulalongkorn "quite impressive in appearance and intelligent." After stops at Hong Kong and Canton, Grant wrote: "I am satisfied that the Chinese are badly treated at home by europeans as well as when they emigrate." At Tientsin, Grant befriended Viceroy Li Hung-chang, "probably the most intelligent and most advanced ruler--if not man--in China," and at Peking he agreed to mediate a dispute with Japan over the Ryukyu Islands. While China languished, Japan had made "almost inconceivable" progress since the 1868 Meiji Restoration. During a "very delightful" ten weeks, Grant met the Emperor, visited shrines and hot springs, attended a play and a lantern parade in his honor, and held talks on the Ryukyu dispute. He departed "with assurances that pleasant recollections of my present visit will not vanish while my lifelasts." Throngs welcomed Grant to San Francisco on September 20, 1879. Grant assured all that the United States stood second to none in the world in its people, institutions, and ideals. He told Confederate veterans: "I have an abiding faith that we will remain together in future harmony." Grant toured Yosemite and visited scenes from his army days in Oregon and Washington Territory, then headed east again, his train cheered at every stop. At Galena and Chicago he basked in the warmth of ovations and old friends. Another series of crowds and banquets culminated in December at Philadelphia, where Grant completed his circuit of the globe. As 1880 began, Grant headed south. He marveled at Florida's potential and groused at Cuba's heat, then reached Mexico, a country he had long ago admired as part of an occupying army. "The climate is perfection, the scenery unsurpassed and the people as clever and hospitable as it is possible for them to be." Grant met influential leaders, toured silver mines and old battlefields, and encouraged development. Grant returned to New Orleans and more banquets and speeches, touting reconciliation and praising black advancement. His progress north took on the air of a campaign as the Republican convention loomed. Newspapers debated a third term while Grant kept silent. In June, at Chicago, delegates split between Grant and James G. Blaine, and settled on dark horse James A. Garfield. Grant expressed relief at avoiding a "most violent campaign." Grant spent the summer in the Rocky Mountains inspecting mines, sometimes by pack mule, for possible investments. In September, back in Galena, he rejoined the political fray, attacking Garfield's opponent, Major GeneralWinfield S. Hancock, in an interview. "He is the most selfish man I know.... He can not bear to hear anyone else praised, but can take any amount of flattery." With the election weeks away, and the outcome in doubt, Grant took to the stump. "I am a Republican," he told an Ohio crowd, "as the two great political parties are now divided, because the Republican Party is a national party seeking the greatest good for the greatest number of citizens."

Written in the early twentieth century for her children and grandchildren and first published in 1975, these eloquent memoirs detail the life of General Ulysses S. Grant's wife. First Lady Julia Dent Grant wrote her reminiscences with the vivacity and charm she exhibited throughout her life, telling her story in the easy flow of an afternoon conversation with a close friend. She writes fondly of White Haven, a plantation in St. Louis County, Missouri, where she had an idyllic girlhood and later met Ulysses. In addition to relating the joys she experienced, Grant tells about the difficult and sorrowful times. Her anecdotes give fascinating glimpses into the years of the American Civil War. One recounts the night President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Grant insisted she and her husband turn down an invitation to the theater. Her decision saved her husband's life: like Lincoln, he too had been marked for assassination. Throughout these memoirs, which she ends with her husband's death, Grant seeks to introduce her descendants to both her and the man she loved. She also strives to correct misconceptions that were circulated about him. She wanted posterity to share her pride in this man, whom she saw as one of America's greatest heroes. Her book is a testament to their devoted marriage. This forty-fifth-anniversary edition includes a new foreword by John F. Marszalek and Frank J. Williams, a new preface by Pamela K. Sanfilippo, the original foreword by Bruce Catton, the original introduction by editor John Y. Simon, recommendations for further reading, and more than twenty photographs of the Grants, their children, and their friends.

In "Lincoln's Generals," Gabor S. Boritt and a team of distinguished historians examine the interaction between Abraham Lincoln and his five key Civil War generals: McClellan, Hooker, Meade, Sherman, and Grant, providing fresh insight into this mixed bag of officers and the president's tireless efforts to work with them. The president's relationship with his generals was never easy. Stephen W. Sears underscores McClellan's perverse obstinacy as Lincoln tried to drive him ahead. Pulitzer Prize-winner Mark E. Neely Jr. sheds new light on the president's relationship with Hooker, arguing that he was wrong to push the general to attack at Chancellorsville. Boritt writes about Lincoln's prickly relationship with the victor of Gettysburg, "old snapping turtle" George Meade. Michael Fellman reveals the political stress between the White House and Sherman, a staunch conservative who did not want blacks in his army but who was crucial to the war effort. And John Y. Simon looks past the legendary camaraderie between Lincoln and Grant to reveal the tensions in their relationship. These authors take us inside the personalities and relationships that shaped the course of the nation's most costly war.

Early in 1885 Americans learned that General Grant was writing his Memoirs in a desperate race for time against an incurable cancer. Not generally known was the General's precarious personal fi nances, made so by imprudent invest ments, and his gallant effort to provide for his family by his writing. For six months newspaper readers followed the dramatic contest, and the hearts of Americans were touched by the General's last battle. Grant's last year was one of both per sonal and literary triumph in the midst of tragedy, as Thomas M. Pitkin shows in this memorable and inspiring book. The Memoirs was completed; its remarkable literary quality made it a triumph. Ultimately more than 300,000 sets of the two-volume work were sold. And Grant accepted the inevitable with quiet courage, and faded away in a manner sadly familiar to many American families. Though told without maudlin touches, the story of Grant's last year will leave few readers emotionally uninvolved, for it is an account of pain and suffering as well as mighty deeds, and truly deserves to be considered the General's final victory.

Mexico had interested Ulysses S. Grant since the young lieutenant fought there. Now, as president of the Mexican Southern Railroad, he emerged as a strong advocate of increased trade and investment. Appointed by President Chester A. Arthur to negotiate a commercial treaty, Grant spent most of January, 1883, at the capital, working with his friend and counterpart Matias Romero. For months, Grant promoted the resulting treaty, granting interviews, giving speeches, and toasting visiting Mexican statesman Porfirio Diaz. Success gave way to bitter failure when the Senate rejected the treaty, led by sugar and tobacco protectionists, amid charges that Grant had crafted provisions to benefit his moribund railroad. Grant's support for Fitz John Porter, a former general who sought to reverse a wartime court-martial, brought him more controversy in Washington. U.S. Senator John A. Logan of Illinois, a stalwart supporter, broke with Grant and fought the measure. The bill passed anyway, but Arthur vetoed it. As Grant lost influence in the White House and in Congress, he turned his attention and energy elsewhere. In September, 1883, Grant joined a tour to celebrate the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad, begun during his first presidential term. From Minnesota to Oregon, Grant saw firsthand the rapid growth of the northwest. "I was not prepared to see so rich a country or one so rapidly developing." On Christmas Eve, 1883, Grant slipped on an icy sidewalk. His injured leg kept him in bed for weeks and on crutches for months. Another crippling blow came in May, 1884, with the failure of Grant & Ward, the brokerage firm co-founded by Ulysses, Jr., in which his father was a silent partner. Ferdinand Ward had bilked the firm of its few real assets and all the Grant family had. Grant was devastated. "I could bear all the pecuniary loss if that was all, but that I could be so long deceived by a man who I had such opportunity to know is humiliating." Buoyed by loans from friends, determined to repay his debts, Grant wrote a series of articles about his Civil War campaigns, then began his "Memoirs." In February, 1885, he was diagnosed with cancer. Newspapers published daily updates as Grant steadily declined. Fading health spurred Grant to finish his "Memoirs." He accepted a generous publishing offer from Samuel L. Clemens and completed the first of two volumes by March. The second was nearly done in June, when the Grants left sweltering New York City for upstate Mount McGregor. Here Grant finished his work and faced his end, unable to speak, communicating by notes to his doctors and friends. "There never was one more willing to go than I am." Grant died on July 23, his family at his side. The late John Y. Simon was a professor of history at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He wrote or edited, in addition to the thirty published volumes of the Grant Papers, four books, among which is "The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant." Aaron M. Lisec is associate editor of the Grant Papers. Leigh Fought is assistant editor of the Grant Papers. Cheryl R. Ragar is textual editor of the Grant Papers.

Recounting the experiences of black soldiers in the Civil War

In the ten probing essays collected in this volume, Howard C. Westwood recounts the often bitter experiences of black men who were admitted to military service and the wrenching problems associated with the shifting status of African Americans during the Civil War.

"Black Troops, White Commanders, and Freedmen during the Civil War" covers topics ranging from the roles played by Lincoln and Grant in beginning black soldiery to the sensitive issues that arose when black soldiers (and their white officers) were captured by the Confederates. The essays relate the exploits of black heroes such as Robert Smalls, who singlehandedly captured a Confederate steamer, as well as the experiences of the ignoble Reverend Fountain Brown, who became the first person charged with violating the Emancipation Proclamation. ""

Although many thousands were enlisted as soldiers, blacks were barred from becoming commissioned officers and for a long time they were paid far less than their white counterparts. These and other blatant forms of discrimination understandably provoked discontent among black troops which, in turn, sparked friction with their white commanders. Westwood's fascinating account of the artillery company from Rhode Island amply demonstrates how frustrations among black soldiers came to be seen as "mutiny" by some white officers.

In the final weeks of the 1880 campaign, Ulysses S. Grant left Galena and headed east to stump for the Republican ticket. At rallies in New England, upstate New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York City, sometimes several times a day, the reticent Grant warmed to his role. Sounding a familiar postwar theme, he repeatedly condemned voter harassment in the South, asserting the right of "our fellow-citizens of African descent, ... to go to the polls, even though they are in the minority, and put in their ballot without being burned out of their homes, and without being threatened or intimidated." James A. Garfield won a narrow victory over Major General Winfield S. Hancock and welcomed Grant's advice on matters ranging from cabinet choices to foreign policy. Rootless since their White House days, unsatisfied with backwater Galena, the Grants now decided to settle in New York City and took rooms at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. In January, 1881, Grant accepted the presidency of the 1883 World's Fair Commission, charged with bringing an exposition to New York City. Initial enthusiasm soon gave way to rancor, as factions split over where to place the fair. Grant favored Central Park, but public sentiment intervened, and funding evaporated. By March, Grant resigned. A friend told a reporter, "Grant and I had a long talk over the matter across the way in his son's office, and we both arrived at the conclusion that the people of New-York don't want a World's Fair." Grant's business interests reflected the international stage he now occupied. Competing plans for an isthmian canal through Panama, Mexico, and Nicaragua jockeyed for support, and Grant had his favorite. "The only feasible route fora canal across from the Atlantic to the Pacific is by the Nicaragua route. I have been all over the routes myself, besides having examined all the reports made regarding each of them carefully, and that is my firm conviction." Grant published an article championing Nicaragua even as momentum swung behind Panama. But Grant's attention was drawn more to railroads and to Mexico. When his friend Matias Romero promoted a new line through Oaxaca, Grant jumped on board. A speech to American capitalists in November, 1880, led a few months later to the incorporation of the Mexican Southern Railroad, with Grant as president. By April, 1881, he was in Mexico City, where he told lawmakers: "I predict, with the building of these roads, a development of the country will take place such as has never been witnessed in any country before. . . . There is nothing, in my opinion, to stand in the way of Mexican progress and grandeur, and wealth, but the people themselves." In June, Grant returned from Mexico with a new charter in hand. But his mind was on Garfield and Secretary of State James G. Blaine, two men who had thwarted him at the Republican convention one year earlier. Grant supported his Stalwart ally, Roscoe Conkling, in a power struggle with Garfield and Blaine. From New Orleans to New York City, Grant spoke candidly. "If you want to know what I think of the manner in which Mr. Conkling has been treated by the President and his colleagues in the Senate, I will tell you without any hesitation. I think it is most outrageous." The feud ended after Garfield was shot on July 2. When he died in September, Grant wept with the nation. Fitz John Porter had sought restoration to the army since hisdismissal after the Second Battle of Bull Run. Grant had previously rebuffed Porter but now reversed course. "I believe I have heretofore done you an injustice, both in thought & speach." Taking up a case that divided former commanders now in Congress, Grant forcefully argued for Porter's vindication. Grant and wife Julia bought a home just off Fifth Avenue in New York City. In the summer, he commuted from his seaside cottage at Long Branch, New Jersey, to his office on Wall Street, where he greeted a steady stream of admirers and influence-seekers. A silent partner in the brokerage firm his son Ulysses, Jr., formed with Ferdinand Ward, Grant left finances in Ward's hands. Surveys for the Mexican Southern proceeded. Banquets and parties filled many evenings. The Grants settled into Manhattan society.

Lt. Col. Theodore Lyman served as Gen. George Gordon Meade's aide-de-camp from September 1863 until the end of the Civil War. Lyman was a Harvard-trained natural scientist who was exceptionally disciplined in recording the events, the players, and his surroundings during his wartime duty. His private notebooks document his keen observations. Published here for the first time, Meade's Army: The Private Notebooks of Lt. Col. Theodore Lyman contains anecdotes, concise vignettes of officers, and lively descriptions of military campaigns as witnessed by this key figure in the Northern war effort. Lyman may well be the finest chronicler of the day-to-day experiences of a staff officer in the Civil War, and his notebook entries have an immediacy, coming as close to real-time reporting as possible. As combat raged, Lyman penciled notations into his dispatch books, including exact times when Meade issued orders and when units deployed. He later transformed his notes into a coherent, historically accurate narrative, filling the account with personal and military details that few others were in a position to observe and including his sketches and hand-drawn maps showing the positions of the army after every significant movement. With Meade's Army, editor David W. Lowe has completed a task that should have been undertaken long ago: a proper and scholarly editing of Lyman's journals. The publication of this significant resource will give historians and students of the Civil War a clear understanding of the last great campaigns of the Army of the Potomac and of the men who led it.

On May 10, 1876, Ulysses S. Grant pulled a lever to start the mighty 1,400-horsepower Corliss Steam Engine, powering acres of machinery for the nation's Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. Grant summed up a century of American progress by saying, "Whilst proud of what we have done, we regret that we have not done more. Our achievements have been great enough however to make it easy for our people to acknowledge superior merit wheresoever found."

That summer, Fourth of July celebrations coincided with early reports that Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer and his Seventh Cavalry had been wiped out by Sioux. Grant resisted the subsequent clamor for volunteers to crush the Sioux, but his peace policy lay in shambles, and he later criticized Custer's unnecessary "sacrifice of troops." Soldiers sent to subdue Indians meant fewer available to help ensure a fair election in November. Grant's correspondents described a pattern of physical and economic intimidation throughout the South, as Democrats sought to keep blacks from the polls. After whites massacred black militia in South Carolina, Grant warned that unchecked persecution would lead to "bloody revolution." As violence spread, Grant struggled to position limited forces where they could do the most good.

Scandals diverted Grant's attention from larger policy questions. A series of Whiskey Ring prosecutions culminated in the February trial of Orville E. Babcock, Grant's private secretary. A new scandal erupted in March when Secretary of War William W. Belknap resigned, hoping in vain to avoid impeachment for selling post traderships. Grant drew fire for having accepted the resignation, a move that ultimately led to Belknap'sacquittal by the Senate. An investigation also linked Grant's brother Orvil to the scandal.

Grant battled a Democratic House of Representatives until late that summer over issues as vital as the budget and as symbolic as the president's absences from the capital. He welcomed Rutherford B. Hayes as the Republican choice for his successor, despite private irritation at Hayes's pointed pledge to serve only one term. As his presidency waned, Grant planned a trip to Europe when he left office. Investments would finance his travels, and he staked his fortunes on western mining stocks. In June, a granddaughter born at the White House brought the family joy in an otherwise trying year.

In his eighth and final annual message to Congress, Ulysses S. Grant reminded the nation that it was his "fortune or misfortune, to be called to the office of Chief Executive without any previous political training." The electoral crisis that dominated Grant's last months in office left little room for political error. On November 7, 1876, Democrat Samuel J. Tilden won the popular vote, but Republican Rutherford B. Hayes could claim the presidency by a single electoral vote if he captured all disputed electors from Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Oregon. Uncertainty gave way to deadlock as the crisis deepened. Grant's mail included a steady trickle of anonymous threats. In late January 1877, Grant signed a bill creating an electoral commission to end the dispute. Hayes won all disputed electors and succeeded Grant without incident.

Out of the White House, without a settled home, the Grants spent two months visiting family and friends before embarking on their long-planned European tour. On May 17, Grant left Philadelphia aboard the steamer "Indiana. "When he arrived at Liverpool, crowds thronged the docks and streets to give him a hero's welcome, and Londoners welcomed Grant with similar enthusiasm. In July, the Grants crossed to Belgium, traveled through Germany, and summered in the Swiss Alps and the lakes of northern Italy. Back in Great Britain, they toured Scotland and northern England, then visited daughter Ellen Grant Sartoris at Warsash, the Sartoris country home near Southampton.

Grant spent November in Paris, later writing "no American would stay in Paris if he found himself the only one of his countrymen there." The Grants wintered in the Mediterranean, sailingdown the Italian coast to Sicily, where they spent Christmas, then to Alexandria, and a long trip up the Nile. The party toured the Holy Land, visited Constantinople and Athens, and spent a month in Italy. After another month in Paris, the Grants were off to Holland, Germany, Scandinavia, Russia, Austria, and Switzerland, exploring the Alps again before returning to Paris in September, 1878, to ponder their next move.

Abroad and out of office, Grant freely talked about the war and his presidency. Several interviews stirred controversy in America and stoked talk of a third term in 1880, despite Grant's own protestation: "I never wanted to get out of a place as much as I did to get out of the Presidency." The Grants had seen Europe. Now they faced a choice between home and a journey to distant Asia.

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Pressured in 1875 to declare himself for or against a third term as president, Ulysses S. Grant found it equally difficult to decide what he wanted and to explain himself to the nation. In May, he pronounced the idea of a third term both constitutional and potentially expedient, and defended the right of the people to choose their own leaders. Grant disavowed any desire to continue as president but expressed gratitude at being chosen twice already. His conclusion left room for doubt. "I would not accept a nomination if it were tendered unless it should come under such circumstances as to make it an imperative duty, circumstances not likely to arise." As he pondered a third term, Grant's second term came under increased scrutiny. The first signs of the Whiskey Ring scandal emerged early in 1875. Investigations uncovered several well-established "rings" of distillers and officials conspiring to skim tax revenues. Indictments were handed down in May, notably in Milwaukee, Chicago, and St. Louis. Those indicted in St. Louis included some of Grant's own friends. Evidence soon connected the scandal to the capital, and ultimately to Grant's longtime aide and secretary, Orville E. Babcock. Warned in July, Grant brusquely ordered prosecutors to "Let no guilty man escape," even those "who insinuate that they have high influence to protect, or to protect them." But in December, when Babcock made a questionable demand for a military court of inquiry to clear his name, Grant backed him up. The idea soon fizzled, and by year's end Babcock faced trial in St. Louis. Grant faced further tribulation in the south. In Louisiana, supporters of rival legislatures clashed on the streets of New Orleans.Lieutenant General Philip H. Sheridan, accused of interfering on behalf of the Republican legislature, described armed Democrats as "banditti," a remark that became a rallying cry for southerners and those northerners opposed to federal intervention. Grant did recognize the limits of northern patience. In September, after violence flared again in Mississippi, he hesitated to intervene, noting that "the great majority are ready now to condemn any interference on the part of the government." Rumors of gold in the Black Hills signaled a new threat to Grant's Indian policy. Prospectors flocked to Dakota Territory, and many slipped through military patrols ordered to stop them. Grant sent an emissary to the Sioux with a proposal to buy the Black Hills. Red Cloud responded: "Look at me! I am no Dog. I am a man. This is my ground, and I am sitting on it." In May, Sioux leaders traveled to the capital, where Grant renewed efforts to persuade them to relocate to Indian Territory, "south of where you now live, where the climate is very much better, and the grass is very much better, and the game is much more abundant." The Sioux refused, returned home, and rebuffed a commission sent out to resume negotiations. In November, Grant tacitly dropped the military patrols. Grant left in September for an extensive western trip. In St. Louis, he arranged to sell assets at his farm, which he had resolved to lease after persistent losses. At a veterans' reunion in Des Moines, Grant spoke against the use of public funds for parochial education. "The free school is the promoter of that intelligence which is to preserve us as a free nation." Traveling as far west as Salt Lake City, where he met Mormon leaderBrigham Young, Grant could not have relished the prospect of returning to Washington, D.C. The Democrats who controlled the House of Representatives prepared to challenge his administration at every turn.

Inaugurated for a second term on March 4, 1873, Ulysses S. Grant gave an address that was both inspiring and curiously bitter. He told the assembled crowd, "It is my firm conviction that the civilized world is tending towards republicanism, or government by the people through their chosen representatives, and that our own great republic is destined to be the guiding star to all others." Yet he ended the speech on an almost petulant note: "I have been the subject of abuse and slander scarcely ever equaled in political history, which to-day I feel that I can afford to disregard in view of your verdict which I gratefully accept as my vindication."

Grant's lingering anger at his opponents in the 1872 campaign, despite his rather easy victory, reflected his discomfort with politics. Nor had he grown to love his office. Despite a schedule that gave him far more time away from the capital than any of his predecessors, Grant chafed at his work, once joking to a senator that he could not accept an invitation to leave the capital until Congress met. "After that unhappy event I would be willing to run away any Saturday from my natural enemy."

Grant's second administration began with trouble in a familiar spot, as rival governments claimed legitimacy in Louisiana. At first attempting to remain above the fray, Grant soon succumbed to the pleas of his Republican allies, led by Governor William P. Kellogg and Grants own brother-in-law, collector of customs James F. Casey. Although troops helped to keep Kellogg in power and gave relative peace to New Orleans, violence escalated in the outlying parishes.

Violence in California threatened Grant's Indian peace policy. After Modocs under Captain Jack murdered Brigadier General Edward R. S. Canby during peace talks, what had been an Indian outbreak became the Modoc War. When the outnumbered Modocs were finally overwhelmed, Grant faced critics on all sides as he weighed the punishment for Canby's assailants. The eventual hanging of four Modocs satisfied few. Grant's foreign policy faced few obstacles until November, when Spanish authorities in Cuba shocked Americans by executing fifty-three crew and passengers of the "Virginius," caught off the coast of Cuba trying to supply Cuban insurgents while falsely flying the U.S. flag. Grant and Secretary of State Hamilton Fish spent a difficult month balancing public demands for retribution with the knowledge that the "Virginius" had limited grounds for legal protection. Passions eventually cooled. Even many politicians shied away from action, causing Grant to joke that "if Spain were to send a fleet into the harbor of New York, and bombard the city, the Senate might pass a resolution of regret that they had had cause for so doing, and offer to pay them for the expense of coming over and doing it."

The greatest challenge to Grant and the country in 1873 came with the stock market panic that began in September. The failure of Jay Cooke & Co. led to a Wall Street collapse, followed by pressure on banks. In the first few days, amid clamor for government action, Grant consulted financiers in New York City and agreed to release treasury funds to bolster the currency. By the end of the month, however, Grant publicly called for bankers and corporations to bear more of the burden of economic recovery, while the country slid gradually toward financial depression.

In his third annual message to the nation, Ulysses S. Grant stated the obvious: "The condition of the Southern States is, unhappily, not such as all true patriotic citizens would like to see." Brutal attacks and political murders throughout the South prompted Grant to invoke the new Enforcement Act, ordering in troops and suspending the writ of habeas corpus.

When fire swept through Chicago during 1871, Grant immediately telegraphed to General Philip H. Sheridan to "Render all the aid you can." When Illinois' governor charged federal interference, Grant replied: "The only thing thought of was how to benefit a people struck by a calamity greater than had ever befallen a community, of the same number, before in this country."

Grant's July Fourth proclamation announced British ratification of the Treaty of Washington. Elsewhere, the civil war in Cuba furnished a constant irritant. An exasperated Grant warned that each new atrocity strengthened American public opinion against Spain.

Telling a friend "It will be a happy day for me when I am out of political life," Grant nevertheless cast a keen eye over the political landscape, looking toward the 1872 election. In another letter, never sent, he surveyed opposition within his own party, deftly characterized Horace Greeley as "a genius without common sense," and saved his worst for Senator Charles Sumner, a man he called "unreasonable, cowardly, slanderous, unblushing false." Despite his lack of zeal for presidential duties--he confessed: "I believe I am lazy and dont get credit for it"--Grant was not about to yield power to such scorned enemies.

In the spring of 1871, Ulysses S. Grant wrote to an old friend that as president he was "the most persecuted individual on the Western Continent." Grant had not sought the office, and halfway through his first term he chafed under its many burdens.

Grant's cherished project to annex Santo Domingo, begun early in his administration, entered a crucial period. Grant agreed to a tactical compromise: Rather than vote the controversial treaty down, Congress sent a commission to investigate the island. Grant's message submitting the report, hammered out over labored drafts, bore a defensive tone and asked Congress to postpone any decision.

Closer to home, Grant sought legislation to facilitate federal intervention in the persecution of blacks by white extremists across the South. After much acrimony and stinging accusations of executive tyranny, Congress passed an Enforcement Act, hailed by Grant as "a law of extraordinary public importance."

The greatest accomplishment of Grant's first term came in foreign relations. After secret negotiations, the United States and Great Britain met in a Joint High Commission to settle long-standing grievances, from boundary and fishing questions to British complicity in the depredations of the "Alabama "and other Confederate raiders. The resulting Treaty of Washington established an international tribunal in Geneva, Switzerland.

At home, economic prosperity and consequent debt reduction meant that Grant could see "no reason why in a few short years the national taxgatherer may not disappear from the door of the citizen almost entirely." His Indian policy, influenced by Eastern Quakers and often ridiculed for its benevolence, augured well. Despite continued clashes between Indians and settlers, Grant maintained that compassion rather than force would answer the Indian problem.

Although Ulysses S. Grant is best remembered as Civil War commander and as president, documents included here demonstrate his importance in the intervening years. Grant interpreted Reconstruction as the means to preserve battlefield victories. He avoided taking a public stand in the bitter dispute between President Andrew Johnson and Congress because he believed that military men served the country, not partisan interests. Nevertheless, he recognized that presidential Reconstruction had failed and privately supported passage of the First Reconstruction Act.

Grant's public silence on political issues led to lively newspaper speculation, and individuals from unreconstructed rebels to ardent Unionists wrote to him offering support and advice. Circumstances were forcing him inexorably onto the political battlefield.

This volume provides material that will allow a fresh evaluation of Grant's activities following Appomattox.

In April Grant commanded an army of more than 1,000,000 men maintained at enormous cost. Disbanding this army took priority. By mid-July, more than two-thirds of the volunteers had been mustered out.

Grant as peacemaker exerted his power to protect his former adversaries. He opposed prosecuting Southern military leaders, including Robert E. Lee and others who had been indicted for treason. The South had to accept defeat, but Grant was no believer in a Carthaginian peace.

Two military tasks remained. Grant sent his two most trusted subordinates to solve these problems: Major General Philip H. Sheridan to pressure the French in Mexico and Major General William T. Sherman to keep settlers and Indians apart.

During the summer, Grant drafted his report on the last year of the war. The style as well as the substance of the report attracted widespread attention. It also made clear Grant's mastery of events during that terrible year.

Grant's career in the closing months of 1861 has been obscured by the success which came to him on the battlefield early in the following year, beginning with the victory at Fort Donelson in February 1862. Hence, Volume 3 of this definitive edition will be especially valuable to historians of the presidency as well as the Civil War for the clear, com-prehensive insight it provides into Grant's attitudes and motives on the eve of his military victories. The fourteen-week period covered by this volume has been exhaustively researched, and includes a great store of previously un-published material, which has been combined with already available Grant documents--many of them now printed from the original manuscripts. All the correspondence has been placed in context and annotated. As in previous volumes of the "Papers," a deepening portrait of Grant emerges. Here is the key to his future actions and policies and a guide to the thought of generations who looked to him for military and political leadership.

This comprehensive volume contains all known documents, both military and private, written by and to Grant during the first six months of the Civil War. Of unusual interest are his letters to his wife, father, and sister which provide the best insight into his complex character. Thirty of the letters to Julia have never before been published. The letters trace Grant's early career as a Civil War officer to his promotion to brigadier general. His assignments to command at Ironton and Jefferson City, Missouri, and Cairo, Illinois, are fully covered. At Cairo, Grant's area of responsi-bility straddled the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, forming a military command Grant considered to be "third in importance in the country." From here he advanced the first federal troops into Kentucky, winning recognition for quick, sure judgment and military competence which started him on the road to Appomattox. A new and deepening picture of Grant continues to emerge with the publication of these letters. Important as original history, they deserve reading for their own sake.