Quizzical U.S. Grant says these Gab folks may have misinterpreted his quote

"Was this guy based or what?"
XD

More than he can know.

It's just like when people use the Jefferson quote about Tree of LIberty needing blood from time to time, to justify insurrection against the government.

It's super fun to point out that Jefferson said that in a response letter to Washington, because Washington was lamenting about having to lead troops against the farmers in the Whiskey Rebellion.

Jefferson was telling him, "look, dude, sometimes governments have to crush rebellions in order to flourish, and that means those rebels will get killed. If you want this tree we planted to grow, you're gonna have to feed it with their blood."

Wow, I was juuuust about to bring up the Whiskey Rebellion myself

Yes: they are extraordinarily fluent in taking quotes out of context and missing the entire arc of U.S. history

C/p History_Memes imgflip.com/i/4r2r7k

I’m just curious to know what confederate civilian atrocities Grant was notorious for.

I read the first half of this book (the part that covers the Civil War) and none are coming to mind.

Grant’s armies certainly foraged off of the surrounding countryside because... well, that is what hungry armies on the move do. But I don’t recall him as being particularly cruel.

General Sherman in Georgia was a different story, I am told, but it’s hard to gin up any sympathy for racist slavering traitors and the populations that support them.

Confederates were American Nazis before Nazis were a thing.

You didn’t find any because there are none.

Our mutual friend confused Grant with Sherman, who hacked and slashed his way to Savannah, burning everything along the way like a plague of flaming locusts.

Ulysses S. Grant is widely considered to be a decent man who, as president, was surrounded by the stereotypical greedy, corrupt fat cats smoking cigars lit with $20 bills.

Basically.

Grant was interesting: A middle of the road guy who failed at a lot in life but it turns out happened to possess an extraordinary genius as a military tactician and strategist, to the point he rose through the ranks rapidly and eventually did more than anyone to win the Civil War not named Lincoln (and arguably even him).

His superpowers were genuine patriotism, drive, and a whole lot of courage. And in his time commanded more universal acclaim than any general since Washington.

I should dig back into the book and finish with reading about his Presidency as it has a lot to do with Reconstruction which is essentially where we’ll kind of be as a nation after the Trump disaster, with or without a Civil War.

His presidency was marred by corruption but if memory serves, none of it was ever attached to him...and not in a Ronald-Reagan-Iran-Contra kind of way.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_S._Grant_and_the_American_Civil_War

The “Historical Reputation and Aftermath” section provides an accurate and succinct summary of who and what Grant was. Native American campaigns aside (and people need to allow for the times), he was just a good dude who never got his due in how own time.

Isn't Ron Chernow the same guy who wrote Alexander Hamilton?

Pretty sure that was general Sherman