Quotes from Personal Memoirs
14 notable lines from Ulysses S. Grant · 1885
No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works.
I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer.
Dispatch from Spotsylvania, May 11, 1864, reproduced in the Memoirs The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving on.
Ulysses S. Grant I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made.
Ulysses S. Grant I was bitterly opposed to the measure, and to this day regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation.
On the Mexican War (ch. III) I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for a cause, though that cause was, I believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse.
On Lee's surrender at Appomattox (ch. LXVII) The fate of the Confederacy was sealed when Vicksburg fell.
On the fall of Vicksburg, 1863 My family is American, and has been for generations, in all its branches, direct and collateral.
Opening sentence (ch. I) But this war was a fearful lesson, and should teach us the necessity of avoiding wars in the future.
Conclusion The universally kind feeling expressed for me at a time when it was supposed that each day would prove my last, seemed to me the beginning of the answer to "Let us have peace."
Conclusion — the dying Grant on national reconciliation In my rough traveling suit, the uniform of a private with the straps of a lieutenant-general, I must have contrasted very strangely with a man so handsomely dressed, six feet high and of faultless form.
On meeting Lee at McLean's house, Appomattox (ch. LXVII) The Confederates were now our prisoners, and we did not want to exult over their downfall.
On stopping his men's celebration after Appomattox (ch. LXVII) When I put my pen to the paper I did not know the first word that I should make use of in writing the terms.
On composing Lee's surrender terms at Appomattox (ch. LXVII) The war beginning, and for some time after, theichthyological department of my life was given up, the spur now applying only to the martial part.
Ulysses S. Grant