properly trained. All over the country the state militias drilled, mostly clumsy country bumpkins, clueless; without uniforms; sometimes shoeless; armed, if at all, with weapons that went back to the War of 1812; guided, if they were lucky, by some old textbook on infantry drill in the hands of one of their elected officers; and by a firm belief in the national myth of the Minute Men at Concord and Lexington, the amateur soldiers who had left their homes and farms, hunting rifles in hand, to confront the Redcoats.
In the meantime Grant, having failed at farming, was forced to undergo the ultimate humiliation. In the summer of 1860 he was obliged to turn back to his father, tail between his legs, and ask for help. Jesse’s terms were harsh and not negotiable. The Grants could come back and live in Galena, Illinois, and Ulysses would work as a clerk in Jesse’s harness and leather shop there, under the supervision of his younger brothers, Orvil and Simpson.
Like many other writers, F. Scott Fitzgerald, in The Great Gatsby , speculated on Grant “lolling in his general store in Galena” as the prototype of the seemingly ordinary American waiting patiently to be called to a high destiny, but it cannot have appeared so to Grant, or anybody else in Galena. His salary was small and grudgingly paid; he and his family lived in a tiny house, which Julia could have compared with White Haven only with great dissatisfaction—an Irish maid was no substitute for a bevy of slave house servants—and Grant’s total lack of any of those qualities that make for a good salesman were only too obvious, to both his brothers and the customers. Even those in Galena who did not think he was a secret drinker—and they were few—could hardly fail to notice his dull, vacant expression, his shuffling gait, his threadbare clothes, and his total lack of interest in the leather and harness business.
Burdened with debts, stuck at last in his father’s leather business, which he had always sought to avoid, with no prospects and not even a horse to ride, he waited—for what? In the leather shop the customers talked about the news and politics, and Grant listened silently, tying packages with twine and perhaps making the occasional sale. He had no gift for small talk, and he kept his opinions to himself, but we know from his memoirs what those opinions were. He had opposed the Mexican War, he was against the expansion of slavery, he thought President James Buchanan was a weakling, and he was moving from being a Democrat to becoming a Lincoln Republican. Above all, he recognized what few other people had thought through yet: If the Southern states seceded from the Union, there would be war; if there was war one result would eventually be the destruction of slavery; and that war, if and when itcame, would be incalculably more bloody than anyone supposed, and would be won only by brute force and killing on a scale that would eclipse all previous wars.
The election of Abraham Lincoln set in motion the events that were to bring Ulysses S. Grant out from behind the counter of the harness shop for good. On April 15 the news of the firing on Fort Sumter reached Galena, and a mass meeting was called by local congressman Elihu B. Washburne, a Galena man, at which Grant was present. Two days later another meeting was held, to discuss the recruitment of troops. As the only man in town who was a graduate of West Point, Grant was asked to chair the meeting and did so. In his own words, “I never went into our leather store after that meeting, to put up a package or do other business.”
Grant’s star had not yet risen, but it was about to, and would carry him away from Galena and into such fame as few men have experienced. For once he moved with a sure step. He went, still in his shabby civilian clothes, and at his own expense, with the company of Galena volunteers to Springfield, where they were to be mustered, and declined to advance himself for the
In the meantime Grant, having failed at farming, was forced to undergo the ultimate humiliation. In the summer of 1860 he was obliged to turn back to his father, tail between his legs, and ask for help. Jesse’s terms were harsh and not negotiable. The Grants could come back and live in Galena, Illinois, and Ulysses would work as a clerk in Jesse’s harness and leather shop there, under the supervision of his younger brothers, Orvil and Simpson.
Like many other writers, F. Scott Fitzgerald, in The Great Gatsby , speculated on Grant “lolling in his general store in Galena” as the prototype of the seemingly ordinary American waiting patiently to be called to a high destiny, but it cannot have appeared so to Grant, or anybody else in Galena. His salary was small and grudgingly paid; he and his family lived in a tiny house, which Julia could have compared with White Haven only with great dissatisfaction—an Irish maid was no substitute for a bevy of slave house servants—and Grant’s total lack of any of those qualities that make for a good salesman were only too obvious, to both his brothers and the customers. Even those in Galena who did not think he was a secret drinker—and they were few—could hardly fail to notice his dull, vacant expression, his shuffling gait, his threadbare clothes, and his total lack of interest in the leather and harness business.
Burdened with debts, stuck at last in his father’s leather business, which he had always sought to avoid, with no prospects and not even a horse to ride, he waited—for what? In the leather shop the customers talked about the news and politics, and Grant listened silently, tying packages with twine and perhaps making the occasional sale. He had no gift for small talk, and he kept his opinions to himself, but we know from his memoirs what those opinions were. He had opposed the Mexican War, he was against the expansion of slavery, he thought President James Buchanan was a weakling, and he was moving from being a Democrat to becoming a Lincoln Republican. Above all, he recognized what few other people had thought through yet: If the Southern states seceded from the Union, there would be war; if there was war one result would eventually be the destruction of slavery; and that war, if and when itcame, would be incalculably more bloody than anyone supposed, and would be won only by brute force and killing on a scale that would eclipse all previous wars.
The election of Abraham Lincoln set in motion the events that were to bring Ulysses S. Grant out from behind the counter of the harness shop for good. On April 15 the news of the firing on Fort Sumter reached Galena, and a mass meeting was called by local congressman Elihu B. Washburne, a Galena man, at which Grant was present. Two days later another meeting was held, to discuss the recruitment of troops. As the only man in town who was a graduate of West Point, Grant was asked to chair the meeting and did so. In his own words, “I never went into our leather store after that meeting, to put up a package or do other business.”
Grant’s star had not yet risen, but it was about to, and would carry him away from Galena and into such fame as few men have experienced. For once he moved with a sure step. He went, still in his shabby civilian clothes, and at his own expense, with the company of Galena volunteers to Springfield, where they were to be mustered, and declined to advance himself for the
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