Book Review: Grant Takes Command by Bruce Catton

Grant Takes Command 1863-1865 by Bruce Catton

When asked what sort of man Grant was, Lincoln replied that Ulysses S. Grant was “the quietest little fellow you ever saw. The only evidence you have that he’s in any place is that he makes things git! Wherever he is, things move."

Lincoln explained that every other general briefing him before a battle told him that he was short of some crucial resource to ensure victory, but, if ordered, they would proceed anyway. This essential resource was almost always cavalry, and Lincoln claimed their real purpose was to shift responsibility to him. When Grant took charge, he immediately reassigned twenty thousand horseless cavalrymen to the infantry. Since there was no way to acquire horses for every man designated as cavalry, these soldiers were held idle as a handy excuse. Recognizing the duplicity, Grant removed the excuse before his first battle.

In this biography, Pulitzer Prize-winning Bruce Catton does an excellent job of describing the man and his military philosophy. Grant reminded me of General Patton, a warrior through and through. Both believed that to reduce war casualties, you don’t minimize the fallen in a single battle; you win the war to stop the killing.

Grant Takes Command is the second half of Catton's war biography of Grant. (Grant Moves South is the first of this two-book series.) The book is well-researched, and Catton's writing style is clear and straightforward. Like a good biographer, he does not impose himself on the narrative, nor unduly speculate on Grant’s inner thoughts. Grant is allowed to “command” his own story.

Catton relates a story about a grizzled sergeant leaning against a fence post. As a comrade approached, the sergeant jerked a thumb at a man in the distance and remarked, “That’s Grant. I hate to see that old cuss around. When that old cuss is around, there’s sure to be a big fight on hand.”

Lincoln had finally found his fighting general.

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