The author of Soldier of Destiny: Slavery, Secession, and the Redemption of Ulysses S. Grant comes to DC on Tues., Jan. 2nd, at 7 p.m.!
Captain Ulysses S. Grant, an obscure officer who was expelled from the Army in 1854 for alcohol abuse, rose to become general-in-chief of the U.S. Army in 1864. What accounts for this astonishing turnaround during this extraordinary decade? Was it destiny? Or was he just an ordinary man, opportunistically benefiting from the turmoil of the Civil War to advance to the highest military rank?
Soldier of Destiny reveals that Grant always possessed the latent abilities of a skilled commander — and he was able to develop these skills out West without the overwhelming pressure faced by more senior commanders in the Eastern theater at the beginning of the Civil War. Grant was a true Westerner himself, and it was his experience in the West — before and during the Civil War — that was central to his rise.
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