Episode 4: Ulysses S. Grant

A full transcript of this episode can be found here.

Show Notes

Overview:

Today’s episode is all about Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president of the United States, a man whose story is inextricably intertwined with the history of race in America.  He was, after all the, the commanding General of the Union Forces that ultimately won the Civil War, and he was present at every step of the way as the country faced perhaps an even larger task: reconstructing a workable union in the wake of the war.

Here’s a quick refresher on Grant.  Born in Ohio in 1822, he attended West Point, fought in the Mexican-American War, retired from the Army to try his hand—unsuccessfully as it turns out—in business, and then rejoined Union Forces in 1861 when the Civil War broke out.  A tenacious and at times controversial General, it was Grant who ultimately proved capable of implementing the hard and costly style of warfare Abraham Lincoln had desired since the war’s first days.  “I can’t spare this man,” Lincoln famously said, “he fights.”

A national hero, he served contentiously under Andrew Johnson following Lincoln’s tragic death, and succeeded both men when elected President in 1868.  He served two terms, until 1877, years that were incredibly consequential for the course of the South, the Union, and in particular for the millions of African Americans freed at war’s end, but uncertain for what the future might hold.  He’d fought to save the Union during the war.  He’d have to fight again to preserve it long after the guns fell silent. 

Indeed, as we learned today from two Grant experts, one can’t understand his life, his legacy, and certainly not his presidency, without grappling with the biggest event of all: the Civil War. 

Guest 1: Professor Hilary Green

Hilary Green is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Alabama’s Department of Gender and Race Studies, the co-program director of the African American Studies program, and a partial appointment in American Studies.

Dr. Green was educated at Franklin and Marshall College, Tufts University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she received her Ph.D. in History. Her research and teaching interests include the intersections of race, class, and gender in African American history, the American Civil War, Reconstruction, Civil War Memory, the US South, 19th Century America, and the Black Atlantic.

She is the author of Educational Reconstruction: African American Schools in the Urban South, 1865-1890 (2016) as well as articles, book reviews, encyclopedia entries, and chapters in The Urban South During the Civil War Era (2015), Epidemics and War: The Impact of Disease on Major Conflicts in History (2018) and Reconciliation after Civil Wars: Global Perspectives (2019). Her article “At Freedom’s Margins: Race, Disability, Violence and the Brewer Orphan Asylum in Southeastern North Carolina, 1865-1872,” received the 2016 Lawrence Brewster Faculty Paper Award from the North Carolina Association of Historians. She is the book review editor for The Journal of the North Carolina Association of Historians and the Digital Media Editor responsible for Muster, the blog for The Journal of the Civil War Era.

Currently, Dr. Green is working on two book projects – a book manuscript examining how everyday African Americans remembered and commemorated the Civil War, and a documentary reader on the Confederate Memorial debates. She is also developing several pieces exploring the enslaved experience at the University of Alabama and other topics on the African American experience during the Long Reconstruction era.

Dr. Green’s Hallowed Grounds Project explores the history of race, slavery, and memory at the University of Alabama and the post-emancipation developments in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. This ongoing scholarly project seeks to make accessible visualizations, transcriptions, primary sources, and other materials for understanding the history of slavery at the University of Alabama and its legacy.

Dr. Green’s website and Twitter account

Guest 2: Park Ranger Nick Sacco

Nick Sacco is a Park Ranger at the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site Park in St. Louis, Missouri.

Sacco graduated cum laude from Lindenwood University (St. Charles, Missouri) with B.A. degrees in History Education and Music Performance, and received a M.A. in History with a concentration in Public History from Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis. He specializes in interpretation, museum education, education theory, public programming, visitor studies, social media, and historical research.

Prior to his work at the National Park Service, Sacco held positions at the National Council on Public History and the Indiana State House. He currently serves on the Board of the Missouri Council for History Education, and acts as a National History Day judge for the Central Indiana District.

Sacco’s scholarly articles have appeared in numerous journals and websites. Among them, "I Never Was An Abolitionist: Ulysses S. Grant and Slavery, 1854-1863" (2019), was published in The Journal of the Civil War Era, and his essay, "Searching for Compromise: Missouri Congressman John Richard Barret's Fight to Save the Union", (2019) can be found in The Confluence. The National Park Service website includes Sacco’s article, "Historic Preservation From the Grassroots: A History of Save Grant's White Haven" (2019). His essay, "The Grand Army of the Republic, the Indianapolis 500, and the Struggle for Memorial Day in Indiana, 1868-1923" (2015) appears in the Indiana Magazine of History.

Sacco uses his personal blog, Exploring the Past: Reading, Thinking and Blogging About History, as an outlet for his research and writing on 19th century American history and other topics. The blog is a venue he uses to discuss strategies for educating people of all ages about the importance of history in our lives today. He believes that reading a book about history is a good start towards obtaining knowledge about the past, but being able to write about and communicate that knowledge to others in an effective manner is a whole other challenge. Exploring the Past also connects readers to resources on digital history, humanities resources, public history, museum studies, and historical memory. In addition, Sacco’s blog acts as a hub for resources on teaching Civil War history and historical methods. 

Nick Sacco’s blog and Twitter account

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Further Readings

Books

• Ron Chernow, Grant (Penguin Publishing Group, 2018)

• Geoffrey Perret, Ulysses S. Grant: Soldier & President (Random House Publishing Group, 2009)

• Ronald C. White, American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant (Random House Publishing Group, 2017)

Primary Resources

• The Complete Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant (Project Gutenberg)

• Grant's First Inaugural Address (Yale Law School, 1869)

• The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant (Mississippi State University, 2008)

• Grant's Second Inaugural Address (Yale Law School, 1873)

Other Resources

• Historic preservation from the Grassroots: A History of Save Grant's White Haven (Nick Saccio, National Parks Service, 2019)

• Interview with Brooks Simpson on U.S. Grant and Reconstruction (U.S. History.org, 2009)

• Profile of Ulysses S. Grant (UVA Miller Center, 2021)

• Ulysses S. Grant Research Guide (Library of Congress)

In this episode, we spoke with historian Hilary Green and National Park Service ranger Nick Sacco about the many sides of U.S. Army General turned president, Ulysses S. Grant. Our conversations with our guests examined how Grant’s military experience shaped his thinking about Reconstruction.

We've provided an episode transcript, primary and secondary sources, and other materials for those who want to dive deeper into the story of Ulysses S. Grant and race.