Soldier of Destiny: Slavery, Secession, and the Redemption of Ulysses S. Grant

“Grant’s contradictions and complexities are on full display in this candid biography.” — Publishers Weekly

“Mr. Reeves wants us to share that intimacy to drive home how this person — not just the historical figure–began to behave in new ways.” — The New York Sun

“An enlightening look at how Ulysses S. Grant benefited from slavery years before he helped end the institution. Reeves manages to stitch Grant’s flaws and virtues into a thought-provoking portrait of a key historical figure who never lost faith in himself or his country.” — Associated Press

“In this timely character study of the Union’s greatest general, John Reeves once again offers us a fascinating, well-written narrative, this time spotlighting Grant’s checkered connection with the ‘peculiar institution.’ He meshes personal biography with military, social, and economic history in crisp, well-written prose that keeps the pages turning.” — Christian B. Keller, Prof. of History, US Army War College, and author of the award-winning The Great Partnership: Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and the Fate of the Confederacy

“Soldier of Destiny appears to be a straightforward biography, but this concise, simple narrative has deeper currents. Reeves’ book is more than an intimate study of Grant and his family in a critical period of the future president’s life; it is a study of a white middle-class America in which economics, politics, and technology rapidly changed their society at the terrible cost of the American Civil War.” — New York Journal of Books

“This thoroughly researched and detailed book offers keen insight into Grant as an evolving soul attempting to navigate the trials and tribulations of life. It also dispels some of the myths of the future Union general as a wholly unsuited businessman and unstable drunk…Soldier of Destiny is a masterful account of the decisive Grant and how he remained resilient while ‘lost in the wilderness, ‘ only to emerge as a sword of deliverance at the moment his country needed him most.” —HistoryNet

“A brilliant, riveting book on the finest officer to ever wear a US Army uniform–Ulysses S. Grant–and his relationship to the most important subject in American history–slavery. How did a tanner from Galena Illinois save the United States and destroy slavery? Reeves, a master storyteller, provides the answer.” — Ty Seidule, author of Robert E. Lee and Me and Professor Emeritus of History, West Point

“Reeves has done a superb job of tracing the evolution of Grant’s attitude toward slavery under the influence first of his antislavery father and then of his slaveholding wife and proslavery father-in-law. But it was the impact of his experience as a Civil War commander that shaped his ultimate conviction that slavery must go if the Union was to be preserved and given a new birth of freedom. An added bonus of Reeves’ lucid portrayal of this process is the most sensible and even-handed treatment of the issue of Grant’s drinking that I have encountered.” — James M. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era

“A fine account of the formative years of Ulysses S. Grant. A capable portrait of Grant’s critical period, with more than the usual attention to his racial views.” — Kirkus Reviews

“In a tightly focused narrative animated by vivid battle depictions, Mr. Reeves connects Grant’s personal and professional redemption to the country’s. Absorbing.” — The Wall Street Journal