In this concluding episode in the series, the final year of Civil War is chronicled, plus Grant's work in overseeing logistics in Reconstruction, his two terms in office as President of the United States, and his final years of travel and the writing of his memoirs.
After the horrors of the Battle in the Wilderness, Grant leads the march to Richmond and the destruction of Robert E. Lee's army of Northern Virginia. After a setback at the important crossroads of Cold Harbor, Grant makes the daring move to outflank Lee by building a pontoon bridge across the 2,000-foot James River, then transporting his artillery and 110,000 soldiers across the temporary bridge.
Petersburg, Virginia served as the main rail hub to Richmond. Grant's scheme was to tunnel under the city, then explode an enormous cache of gunpowder. But after the massive hole is blown sky high, it is an unmitigated disaster for the Union troops. Civil Engineer James Ledlie's blunder leads to an all-out slaughter of a corps of black troops.
One of the most significant turning points of the war was the presidential election of 1864. Lincoln's Democratic opponent, George McClellan was running on the "peace" platform. If McClellan had won, it is possible that war would have been called to a halt, the Emancipation Proclamation rescinded, and the slavery would have continued in the South. But it was the victory of Sherman in Atlanta that dealt the death blow for McClellan's candidacy. Georgia, a prime source for Confederate recruits, was decimated, and the votes of the euphoric Union soldiers were instrumental in reelecting Lincoln.
Grant never seemed phased by adversity or his own mistakes. After Petersburg, he moves to pin down Grant by assigning Phil Sheridan to torch Lee's breadbasket of the Shenandoah Valley while Sherman is gutting the Deep South. At Five Forks, a useless battle ensues prior to the fall of Richmond. Any other general would have celebrated in Richmond. Not Grant. Now, the chase is on to expedite Lee's surrender.
On April 6, 1865, Sailor's Creek is the final battle fought by Robert E. Lee. On April 9 at the Wilbur McLean farmhouse at Appomattox, Eli Parker, a Senecan Indian and Grant's secretary, writes out the generous terms of surrender. Because of those terms, Grant will be a hero to both Union and Confederate soldiers. Lee is paroled, which means that he would be free from arrest.
As the man who was the savior of the war, Grant now must be the savior of the peace. In the immediate aftermath of the war, he oversees the staggering logistics of Reconstruction. On July 30, 1866, the massacre at the Mechanics Institute in New Orleans means that federal troops must be deployed in the South to ensure equality for the liberated slaves.
As president, Grant sought to realize the implications of the 13th, 14th, and 15t Amendments. In 1871, he is responsible for the nearly complete extinction of the KKK. But by the end of his second term in office, Grant feels that he must pull back on military intervention due to pressures from his Republican Party. When his term comes to an end in 1876, Reconstruction will then turn into failed promises.
In retirement, Grant had made a fortune working with a Wall Street broker. But when the nefarious Ferdinand Ward absconded with all the funds, Grant and his son Buck were wiped out. In a final courageous act, Grant, dying of cancer, writes his memoirs that will be published to great acclaim by Mark Twain. Posthumously, Grant fell from favor after the influence of the "Lost Cause" literature in the late nineteenth century. But in his lifetime, he was likely the most recognized and admired figure in the nation and perhaps the world.
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