Three Years with Grant: As Recalled by War Correspondent Sylvanus Cadwallader

If you are familiar with Grant`s campaigns then youll like this book . It gives us an insiders view of the battles of Vicksburg, Chattanoga,the Wilderness,and Appomattox.Because of his unique situation at Grant`s Headquarters where he was accepted as one of the staff,we get the inside take on Grant`s drunkedness on Warren`s removal from command and any number of things that happened during Grant`s campaigns.

If you are familiar with the campaigns of General Grant then you will find this book worthwile.Cadwallader has a front row seat at Vicksburg, Chattanoga,the Wilderness,and Appomattox. He is a reporter therefore a professional writer which helps. His book is filled with inside information on all the principle figureheads of the time. Also it is the only book I ever read that gives us the reader the inside true story on the rumours of General Grants drinking problem.

This is a controversial book because of one reason: the author maintains he witnessed Grant getting drunk during the Vicksburg campaign in 1863. Why this is particularly contentious with Grant supporters is a trifle mystifying, but Grant fans still vociferously contend the author "embellished" or "lied" about the drinking binge. Never mind that two other people who were also with Grant corroborate the drinking story. Never mind that his chief of staff specifically wrote about the binging in a private letter. Aside from this drinking anecdote, the book is a warm, rich portrayal of General Grant from a man with a discerning eye. Cadwallader relates many small incidents of Grant's everyday life as a man and as a general that are fascinating and not to be found in other first-person narratives. Cadwallader truly loved Grant and his book shows his regard and his profound attachment to him. It's a pity that so many people denigrate such a fine book simply because they feel the author's memory was fallible or because they refuse to see Grant as a multi-facted man. A man with his share of human frailties and weaknesses, but still a towering individual: a great general and a man of uncommon moral fiber and decency. If you know little about Grant, this is a good place to begin a journey in seeking to know him as a man and as a great soldier who saved the union.