Also maligned because people started to believe generations worth of “Lost Cause” neo-Confederate sick-head propaganda that painted him as an incompetent drunk.

Absolutely agree on him being the most normal and relatable because his only “super power” to the degree that he had one was just being fucking relentless and methodical. I think it was a story from Shilo maybe, but it’s the middle of the night and poring down rain and Sherman is having a breakdown about the losses they had and how everything was falling apart and Grant, standing under a tree and smoking a cigar said, “Yeah, but we’ll lick em tomorrow” and then they did.

He just kept going, but not in an action hero John McClane way, but more like a rising tide.

Really glad it could help.

Whether you’re into non-fiction history or not, I’d highly recommend the book “Grant” by Ron Chernow. I listened to it on Audible and it was wonderfully narrated and absolutely riveting from start to finish. Grant’s life is fascinating and he truly is a great man.

Another interesting thing about him that I think about often is that he was described as “being a man utterly without guile”, meaning that he had no mind at all for scams, or really business for the most part. He was never a guy that could make money, and he was often conned out of the money he had because he was all too willing to give everyone the benefit of the doubt and trust their good intentions.

Again, this is a guy who ground the Confederate army to dust in multiple theaters of war, but if he was alive today would have totally lost money on a timeshare if a friend talked him into it. Again, we’re all better at some things than others, and that’s ok

This is true, but my favorite Grant anecdote is that after the Mexican American war he worked at his father in law’s leather goods shop in IL and he fucking sucked at it

A guy who essentially won the US Civil War for the good guys, was a two term president in a time when that was rare, and made it his mission to destroy the KKK, was just straight up BAD at running a store. Importantly, it’s not like he was some violent skull-cracker when he was in the army and just couldn’t get used to civilian life. He was a logistics guy during the Mexican American War, he should have been able to run a store!

I think about this a lot because it’s important to remember that just because you are bad at one thing doesn’t mean that you are a bad person or bad at everything. Some people are just not in the right job and that’s ok.

But if it weren’t for the Civil War, Grant would have probably just drank himself to death in Galena IL and nobody would have ever heard his name. Maybe you suck at your email job and would be a great leader, but there isn’t a war for you to fight in. Or maybe you’re at war right now and are really much better suited to run a store but never will. Everything lined up for Grant in the most destructive way possible and he did a historic amount of good, killed a ton of people, did deeds that will be remembered throughout the ages, and died penniless, cancer stricken, and in horrible pain

Life is a wild fucking ride