Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant is a memoir and historical account by the Union general and former president. It traces his life and military career, with extensive attention to the American Civil War, offering a clear, firsthand view of leadership, campaigns, and the people involved. It is valued for its plain prose and historical insight.
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Cover of the original edition (Project Gutenberg, public domain).
Text source: gutenberg.org · The work is in the public domain.
Opening of the book
PERSONAL MEMOIRS OF U. S.
GRANT
by Ulysses S. Grant
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PREFACE.
"Man proposes and God disposes." There are but few important events in the affairs of men brought about by their own choice.
Although frequently urged by friends to write my memoirs I had determined never to do so, nor to write anything for publication. At the age of nearly sixty-two I received an injury from a fall, which confined me closely to the house while it did not apparently affect my general health. This made study a pleasant pastime. Shortly after, the rascality of a business partner developed itself by the announcement of a failure. This was followed soon after by universal depression of all securities, which seemed to threaten the extinction of a good part of the income still retained, and for which I am indebted to the kindly act of friends. At this juncture the editor of the Century Magazine asked me to write a few articles for him. I consented for the money it gave me; for at that moment I was living upon borrowed money. The work I found congenial, and I determined to continue it. The event is an important one for me, for good or evil; I hope for the former.
In preparing these volumes for the public, I have entered upon the
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