This issue has an article about Ulysses S. Grant in his final days. Virtually on his deathbed suffering from throat cancer, Grant communicated to an old friend and former Confederate general, “I believe myself that the war was worthy of all it cost us, fearful as that was.” Slavery was not a burning issue with Grant, so what did he mean? What was 600,000 dead Americans worth?

Grant was encouraged over the growing harmony between North and South and told his friend that the war had brought about “a perpetual peace at home and a national strength that will secure us against foreign complication.” Others have expressed this sentiment in grammatical terms by saying that the war changed the United States from the plural, as in the United States are, to the singular, the United States is.

Grant said he was convinced the United States that emerged from the ashes of the Civil War was better off, because he had traveled the globe, observed other nations, and realized “the value of our inheritance,” meaning our freedom and independence gained through strength. Keep the house secure and everything else becomes a housekeeping matter. Lose the house, and all is lost.

Simple, but critical, concepts like this and our hard-learned lessons cause me concern when I realize that American history, especially Civil War history, has been so infected with political correctness that the reason for the sacrifice of those 600,000 dead Americans has been lost. Don’t believe me? Look at a modern history textbook.

Just as we would never countenance the return of slavery—and there’s no shortage of that lesson being trumpeted throughout our culture—nor should we allow the strength Grant described to be ignored or allowed to diminish, preserving it with a knowledge of history (lessons learned), as well as a watchful eye and a clenched fist.

You have to wonder if the likes of a Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Forrest, Jackson or a Patton could even exist today.

editor