E.B Long's Article, Dear Julia: Two Grant Letters

E.B Long’s article, Dear Julia: Two Grant Letters, offers a new view of the Civil War General before he was President.  After the Civil War, Grant had predominately been known for his military strategies.   But in this article, he focuses on letters he wrote to his wife Julia and how it humanizes Grant as a family man, and shows a softer side of the Civil War hero.

Historians and critics, had not always portrayed Ulysses in the best light.  Some views of the General were very negative.  Long’s article starts as such, “Not much of a General, just a butcher, give anyone enough men and he can win, he came in at the end, too stupid to be a great strategist, just a drunkard.”[i]  This instantly sets the tone of Grant as a disfavored General.  But the article then turns as Long, describes the letters to Julia, as affectionate and revealing.[ii]   Never intending on the letters to be public Long remarks, “Grant would only blush inwardly and say nothing if he knew they were printed.”[iii]  A man letters to their wife would expect to be sacred, and not meant for the public eye.  Of course Grant would have no need to blush seeing that the letters found and published in the Civil War History’s first issue in 1955 are far removed from his embarrassment.                  

Although Long speaks of Grants poor spelling and often too short notes home, he perceives that Grant was able to show his real character in a few syllables where it took many men narratives to convey their true self.  Long also states, “The glory will come, it will come to those such as Grant, slowly and sometimes not perceptibly until the years go by.”[iv]  Long believing that with time all perceptions can be changed with a fresh set of eyes. 

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[i] Long, E.B.. “Dear Julia: Two Grant Letters.”  Civil War History 1, no.1 (1955): 61. 

[ii] ibid.

[iii] ibid.

[iv] Long, Dear Julia: Two Grant Letters, 62.