Bankrupt and Dying from Cancer, Ulysses S. Grant Waged His Greatest Battle

On this episode of Our American Stories, aided by Mark Twain, the former president and Civil War hero raced to complete a literary masterpiece that saved his wife from destitution. Christopher Klein is here with the story.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here in this show,
including your story. Send them to our American Stories dot com.
Up next, Christopher Klein is the author of four books,
and he's a frequent contributor to the History Channel, National
Geographic and American Heritage. You've heard Chris tell the story

(00:32):
of how Johnny Carson Save Twister. He's back with another one.
Aided by Mark Twain, Ulysses S Grant, former president and
Civil War hero, race to complete a literary masterpiece that
saved his wife from destitution. Here's Christopher Kleine with a story.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Shortly before noon, on May sixth, eighteen eighty four, ulysses
As Grant entered the office of his Wall Street brokerage
firm a wealthy man. Hours later, he exited a pauper
thanks to a pyramid scheme operated by his unscrupulous partner,
fernand Ward. Grant's investment firm had instantly collapsed, wiping out
his life savings. Grant had all of eighty dollars left

(01:22):
to his name his wife, Julia, she had another one
hundred and thirty dollars. Kind hearted strangers responded by mailing
Grant checks. Desperate to pay his bills, the former president
cashed them. Still smarting from bankruptcy's bitter sting, Grant that
summer suffered from an excruciating sting in his throat as well.
When he finally visited a doctor in October, Grant learned

(01:44):
he had incurable throat and tongue cancer, likely a product
of his longtime cigar smoking habit. Grant had been no
stranger to financial misfortune, failing as a farmer and a
rent collector. Prior to the Civil War. He lived in
a log cabin that he dubbed hard scrabble and sold
firewood on the streets of Saint Louis to make ends meet. However,

(02:06):
now that he was confronting the terrifying prospect of leaving
Julia a penniless widow, the grizzly general who fought to
save the Union undertook one final mission to save his
family from impoverishment. Divested of his property and possessions, Grant
still retained something of great value his recollections of past glory.
Although he appeared taciturn and reserved, Grant was a convivial

(02:30):
storyteller who entertained friends such as Mark Twain with yarns
of war and politics. For years, Twain had suggested it
Grant pen his memoirs. Now destitute, the former president finally
agreed to cash in on his celebrity. In need of
financial rescue himself after a series of failed investments, the
debt ridden Twain in't Grant to a contract with his

(02:50):
newly launched publishing house and gave him a one thousand
dollars check to cover living expenses. Engaged in a furious
race against time as a cancer attacked his by, Grant
dug into his writing with military efficiency, turning out as
many as ten thousand words in a single day. He
poured through tall stacks of orderers and maps that helped
him to recreate his most famous battles with minute fidelity.

(03:15):
Grant has stemmed to Twain with not just the quantity
but the quality of his prose. Grant penned his manuscript
until his hand grew too feeble in the spring of
eighteen eighty five, forcing him to employ a stenographer. Even speaking, however,
became laborious as his condition deteriorated. Following the advice of

(03:36):
doctors who vouched for the salubrious power of pure mountain air.
Grant decamped at the onset of summer from his Manhattan
brownstone to an Adirondack resort in a cottage on the
slopes of Mount McGregor. Grant launched his final campaign to
complete his tone. With excruciating pain accompanying every swallow, Grant
was unable to eat solid food, his body withered by

(03:59):
the day. The voice that once commanded armies could barely
muster or whisper. While Grant's doctors gave him morphine only
sparingly in order to keep his mind clear for writing,
they swabbed his throat with cocaine to provide topical pain relief,
and used hypodermic needles to inject him with brandy during
the worst of his coughing fits. Through it all, Grant
persisted in honing his manuscript, editing, adding new pages, pouring

(04:24):
over proofs in his first volume. As he sat on
the cottage porch on even the steamiest of days, swallowed
in blankets, a wool hat and a scarf covering his
neck tumor, which was, now, according to the New York Sun,
as big as a man's two fists put together. When
his voice finally abandoned him, Grant scribbled his thoughts and
pencil on small slips of paper. When Twain visited Grant

(04:48):
at the cottage, he brought the good news that he
had already pre sold one hundred thousand copies of the autobiography,
a relief Grant knew he had succeeded in giving Julia
and his children financial security. With his mission accomplished, Grant
finally laid down his pen on July sixteenth, after crafting
a herculean three hundred and sixty six thousand words in

(05:09):
less than a year. Seven days later, Grant's pulse flickered
and ultimately gave out. Employing an army of door to
door salesmen, Twain sold more than three hundred thousand copies
of the personal Memoirs of Ulysses s. Grant. The two
Volant box set even outsold Twain's latest work, Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn, and resulted in Julia Grant receiving four hundred

(05:33):
and fifty thousand dollars in royalties equivalent to twelve million
dollars today. Grant's memoir approved not just a commercial success,
but a literary one as well, although he admitted discussion
of his presidency or sensitive personal matters such as his drinking.
Many scholars considered Grant's autobiography the finest memoir ever penned
by an American president, and perhaps the foremost military memoir

(05:56):
in the English language.

Speaker 1 (05:58):
And a great job by Greg Hangler, and a special
thanks to Christopher Klein. And he's the author of four
books and a frequent contributor to the History Channel, National
Geographic and American Heritage. And what a story. Indeed, Grant's
last battle was against the clock, and it was for
his family, and he held out, and as always the

(06:18):
warrior fought.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
To the end.

Speaker 1 (06:21):
My goodness, anyone who knows anything about Grant as a
warrior knows that, well, now they know another side of
his warrior spirit. Three hundred thousand plus words in less
than a year, and all to save his family. And
he doesn't just pen any memoir. Read the book, pick
it up, go to Amazon and order it, and just
start reading it aloud to your family. It is indeed

(06:45):
classic American literature. And it of course took a voice
like Mark Twain's to discover. Both men, by the way,
routinely in Financial ruined throughout their lives. The story of
Mark Twain and you Grant's race against the clock to
save the great Civil War heroes family from destitution. Here

(07:09):
on our American Stories. Folks. If you love the stories

(07:32):
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of America's rich past, know that all of our stories
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are brought to us by the great folks at Hillsdale College,
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(07:53):
will come to you with their free and terrific online courses.
Go to Hillsdale dot edu to learn more.