General Ulysses S. Grant’s Historic Cased Presentation Remington New Model Army Revolvers By Seth Isaacson Lead Historian at Rock Island Auction Company For the North South Skirmish Association’s Skirmish Line Photos Courtesy of Rock Island Auction Company
General Ulysses S. Grant’s historic presentation New Model Army Revolvers will be sold at Rock Island Auction Company as part of the May 13-15 Premier Firearms Auction. Ulysses S. Grant ranks among the most famous Americans of all time and certainly of the Civil War. “Unconditional Surrender Grant’s” legacy was cemented by his important victories during the American Civil War starting with one of the first significant Union victories of the war, the capture of Fort Donelson, and ending with General Robert E. Lee’s surrender to Grant at Appomattox. His historic role as President Abraham Lincoln’s hand-picked commanding general of the U.S. Armies and as the savior of the Union during the “War Between the States” established him as a national hero. He was not everyone’s pick to lead due to accusations of drunkenness and the cost in blood of his tactics, but Lincoln liked Grant as a commander because he was aggressive. The president felt other Union commanders were too cautious and thus failed to secure victories and destroy the Confederate armies. When other Union generals called for Grant’s removal as commander of the Union Army of the Tennessee, Lincoln is famously reported to have remarked, “I can’t spare this man; he fights.” After the war, Grant was rewarded by becoming the first “General of the Army,” and his immense popularity propelled him to the White House as the 18th President of the United States of America from 1869 to 1877. As president, Grant worked to bring the country back together while also struggling to protect the rights of freedmen and women in the South, including using federal military force to try to protect the rule of law. While many may look back and say that Grant could have and should have done more to protect African-Americans, he should be given credit for the fact that he did more than most of his contemporaries. His autobiography, Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, was completed in 1885 just before his death and was published in two volumes by his friend Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, through his new publishing firm Charles L. Webster & Company. 35 Skirmish Line Summer 2022
