Soldier of Destiny: Slavery, Secession, and the Redemption of Ulysses S. Grant

Historian Reeves (A Fire in the Wilderness) takes a fresh look at Ulysses S. Grant’s conflicted early relationship with slavery, secession, and alcohol in this less than laudatory study. Focused solely on Grant’s life in the West—particularly in St. Louis from 1854 to 1860—Reeves charts Grant’s tense relationships with his antislavery father, Jesse, and his slave-owning father-in-law, Colonel Dent, as well as his emotional dependence upon his wife, Julia. Having retired from the army after the Mexican American War, Grant took over Dent’s plantation property in Missouri. Reeves traces the arc of Grant’s thinking on slavery during this time, as it evolved from a tacit acceptance in the 1850s to his belief that its demise was necessary to win the war. Transitioning into a study of Grant’s early military campaigns against the Confederates in the West (where he credits Grant’s pugnacious, confident spirit for both victories and losses), Reeves continues to highlight Grant’s attitudes toward slavery, particularly regarding the enslaved woman Jule who traveled with his family to care for the children during the war and was a “familiar presence” in Union camps. Throughout, Reeves dredges up old shibboleths about Grant (including that he was a drunkard, a complete failure at business, a butcher general) and breathes new life into a few of them. Grant’s contradictions and complexities are on full display in this candid and unusually critical biography. (Dec.)