THE A VICTOR, NOT A BUTCHER: Ulysses S. Grant's Overlooked Military Genius
By Edward H. Bonekemper III
Many Civil War Round Table members have read extensively
about the War. They know much about the
movements, the battles and the characters, and have formed their own opinions
about them. Having read books written in
different eras, they are also familiar with the shifts in the assessments of
leaders over time.
The assessment of Ulysses S. Grant is a case in point, as
his reputation has risen and fallen over time. In the early years of his military carreer, Grant was accused of drunkenness and was disliked by many fellow officers. During and after the War, he was lauded as a hero, and he used that
reputation to later become
President of the United States. More recently,
he has been portrayed as a butcher who only won because he had superior numbers and
resources with which to overwhelm his enemies.
Ed Bonekemper’s A Victor, Not A Butcher counters that opinion. He uses facts, figures and logic to make his
case that Grant’s victories were the result of his superior generalship, rather
than merely due to overwhelming resources (which in fact were available as
often as is generally presumed).
Devoting little attention to Grant’s early life and none
to his post-war years, Bonekemper concentrates on making the case that
Grant was—as he states in the preface--“The Greatest Civil War General.” Following the tide of the battles during the
War, A Victor, Not A Butcher analyzes: the capture of Forts Henry and
Donelson; Grant’s role at Shiloh; and the Vicksburg Campaigns. With his transfer to the East, Grant is praised
for saving Chattanooga and for planning a national campaign that had been
lacking before he was given overall command.
In the book's saccounts dealing with the relentless attacks of 1864-1865 that
wore down Lee’s army, Bonekemper contends that the casualties were the price of
victory, an outcome much better than the prolonged and inconclusive stalemate that
occurred under earlier generals. The
final chapter of A Victor, Not A Butcher explores Grant’s winning
characteristics.
Bonekemper includes three appendices in his book that assess
historians’ treatment of Grant, the casualties in his battles and campaigns,
and the impact Grant’s victories had on a close 1864 presidential election. His book also contains pictures of war scenes
to provide visual context as well as photographs or drawings of generals
mentioned in the book. Notes and a bibliography
provide helpful guides for further reading.
Bonekemper presents his arguments with the analytical intensity of a legal brief, reciting the facts and then presenting his theories of the case. For example, the appendix on losses compares Union and Confederate figures battle by battle, with a few estimates from other sources, and then what Bonekemper calls his “Best Estimate.”
Bonekemper also rates other officers unfavorably in comparison to Grant. For example, he explains that at Cold Harbor, “Meade failed to reconnoiter, coordinate or command . . . [a]fter several hours of waffling.” At Petersburg, “a number of Grant’s corps commanders displayed incredible incompetence and timidity.” Bonekemper does admit, although somewhat grudgingly, that “Among these generals who served at least somewhat successfully under Grant were Joe Hooker, O.O. Howard and Ambrose Burnside.” With respect to Lee, Bonekemper presents his conclusions, issue by issue, that Grant out-generaled Lee rather than just overwhelm him with troops and resources.
This is the very kind of book that will engage the minds
of Civil War history devotees. It is
well researched and well written. It
lays out facts and figures, provides quotes from the statements of Grant’s
contemporaries and from later historians, and presents its own
conclusions. Seasoned readers are challenged by this book to confront, evaluate,
and form (or reform) their own opinions about Ulysses S. Grant.
A Victor, Not a Butcher: Ulysses S. Grant's Overlooked Military Genius: Bonekemper III, Edward H.
Jim Gallen is a St. Louis, Missouri attorney. He is Chairman of the Military History Club of the Missouri Athletic Club, a member of the St. Louis Civil War Roundtable (https://civilwarstlmo.org/), and member of the Ulysses S. Grant Camp of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.
