Ulysses S. Grant States that the Grants Consider the Institution of Slavery Unjustifiable, In a Letter to a Young Boy

Julia took at least one of the slave women, “Black Julia”, along with her at the beginning of the Civil War as she traveled with the children to join Grant at his headquarters. This caused no small amount of trouble for Grant when reports were made to Pres. Lincoln that Grant was unfit to command Union troops given that his presumedly disloyal wife brought “her little slaves” to wait upon her while in the camp. In May 1862, when Dent was at risk of losing his property, including his slaves, Grant wrote his wife telling her to have her father send a bill “for the Negroes she gave her. To avoid a possibility of any of them being sold you want to do the same for all the balance.” Thus, Grant sought to assist his father-in-law while at the same time making sure that none of his father-in-law’s slaves would be sent to the auction block. Nor did Grant want Julia to take any of them, wryly surmising that “It is not probable we will ever live in a slave state again.” So prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, Grant owned one slave and freed him, while his wife was in possession of one or more slaves but may or may not have been their legal owner. We shall soon see how this letter answers the ownership question, at least in so far as the Grants, themselves, were concerned. It also disputes the claim sometimes heard that Julia Grant was an apologist for slavery.

With the outbreak of the war, slavery was pushed to the forefront of the national conversation. On April 19, 1861, Grant wrote his father-in-law saying that “The times are indeed startling,” and stating that he had never been an abolitionist, nor even anti-slavery, but predicting that the war will be the doom of slavery. There are a few letters to his father dated later in 1861 mentioning slavery, the South’s fear of its end, his motivations to serve the Union cause, etc. He offers a fascinating personal insight in a letter of July 13, 1861, in which he states that he “has disliked party Republicanism,” but will fight for the nation. This may well indicate that he voted for Stephen A. Douglas rather than Abraham Lincoln. And in a famous letter to his father of November 27, 1861, he states “My inclination is to whip the rebellion into submission, preserving all constitutional rights.” He continues that “If it is necessary that slavery should fall that the Republic may continue its existence, let slavery go.” The statements he is making are political and personally illuminating, but they are not moral judgments.

Grant entered the Union Army as a colonel in June 1861, and in August was promoted to Brigadier General. Thus he quickly assumed a position of command. With Union forces in the South, slaves left no time before leaving their plantations and seeking safe protection behind Union lines. And their owners were quick about going behind those lines to claim them. Plus, there was the question of the terms of the Union Army’s utilizing the labor of escaped slaves for necessary work within their lines. From late 1861 through 1863, much attention was given to the technical and logistical question of the use, questioning and disposition of fugitive slaves, as well as to whether slave owners could claim them. During this period, there are a few letters of Grant plus others of his aide, John Rawlins, on the subject. For example, Grant wrote Gen. Halleck and and Cong. Elihu Washburn relating to the use and disposition of fugitive slaves. These were practical letters about a real, functional problem faced by Union commanders. In this period, it was not Grant’s job to characterize slavery, and, in fact, in the politically volatile moment when many Union supporters were not anti-slavery, it may have hindered his job to have done so. So, with the exception of the fugitive slave issue, his correspondence seems to have avoided it completely, as no letters are found relating to it.

By the spring of 1863, Grant was no longer simply a Union general, but was in command of the army that besieged and then took the pivotal city of Vicksburg, Mississippi. It was now his job to engage in correspondence with Confederate generals leading their forces, generally dealing with issues relating to prisoners of war. On July 4, 1863, he wrote to Gen. Richard Taylor, saying that former slaves serving as Union soldiers, if captured, should be treated the same as any other soldiers. On July 11, 1863, he wrote to Union Adjutant General Gen. Lorenzo Thomas, saying that an appointee may be influenced by old theories of abolishing slavery and elevating the Negro. That same day he sent a letter to Union Gen. Dennis saying that a family in the South has been loyal to the Union, and should not have their former slaves carried off. On August 30, 1863, he penned his famous letter to his friend, Cong. Elihu Washburne, containing his views on slavery: “I never was an Abolitionist….but I try to judge fairly & honestly and it became patent to my mind early in the rebellion that the North & South could never live at peace with each other except as one nation, and that without Slavery.” These were his only letters on slavery and the status of slaves in 1863, with again the exception of those relating to fugitive slave matters.

In 1864 Grant wrote two letters on slavery and the status of slaves. One was a letter to Washburne dated August 16, 1864, stating his belief that the South would not accept peace without the restoration of slavery and indemnity for its losses. The other was a letter to Robert E. Lee dated October 20, 1864, saying that as he has nothing to do with the discussion of the slavery question, he declines to answer arguments relating to it.

Now we will examine Grant’s papers containing his views on the institution of slavery or his characterizations of slavery from 1865, through his term as President, to the end of his life. First those outside his correspondence. Before his presidency, Grant wrote President Andrew Johnson mentioning slavery and the issues relating to it. As President, he addressed Congress on the subject a number of times in his messages, and once wrote his Vice President, Schuyler Colfax. His calendar made mentions of it, and in the public statement of his second Inaugural Address, he said: “The effects of the late civil strife have been to free the slave and make him a citizen. Yet he is not possessed of the civil rights which citizenship should carry with it. This is wrong, and should be corrected. To this correction I stand committed…” When called upon to speak, Grant was often introduced as the man who had played an instrumental role in bringing down slavery. He sometimes responded in remarks characterizing slavery, and his views on it and its abolition. As an example, in 1878 he told Otto von Bismarck, “As soon as slavery fired upon the flag it was felt, we all felt, even those who did not object to slaves, that slavery must be destroyed. We felt that it was a stain to the Union that men should be bought and sold like cattle.” And Grant wrote a memoir that was published posthumously with references to slavery. His postwar views on slavery were not a secret.

Now his post-1865 letters and correspondence. We have searched the entire 31-volume Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, and a database going back 40 years, looking for his uses of the words “slave” and “slavery” in his letters. Very surprisingly, neither the term “slavery” as related to that institution, nor any characterizations of the institution of slavery using the term “slave,” appear in his correspondence, with just three exceptions. One was simply a mention in passing, and neither a viewpoint nor a characterization: in 1881, he wrote a letter of recommendation simply saying that the man he is recommending had been opposed to slavery. Another was a letter written in 1878 while Grant was touring the Ottoman Empire, saying people there are treated as slaves with all they produce benefiting the governing classes. The other is before us now, a previously unknown and unpublished letter, and now the only known letter of Ulysses S. Grant containing his view on slavery as an institution in America. We conjecture that the reason for this lack of such letters may have stemmed from a feeling, while head of the United States Army from 1865-1869, that such comments were inappropriate for a military commander; and a reluctance as President to place views in writing in private letters. Later in life he was not making policy, and at the end of his life he was ill and his correspondence slowed.

So reviewing our findings, it appears that this is one of five letters Grant wrote throughout his life dealing with his opinion on the institution of slavery in America. We have also researched Julia Grant’s memoir and read other materials about her, and we have been unable to find any of her writings that deal with this specific question.

Alexander Milton Ross was a Canadian physician and naturalist, with a particular interest in ornithology. He was also an abolitionist, and became among the most daring of the Underground Railroad operatives, making five trips into the Southern states before the Civil War. Using ornithology as a cover, Ross visited plantations, whose owners let the “Birdman” roam their estates, with no inkling that the flights he hoped to see were not those of birds, but of their slaves. While there, Ross interviewed and collected information from slaves, and provided them with information about routes to Canada and Underground Railroad stations along the way. Ross developed notable acquaintances during his years of activity, including Abraham Lincoln and Giuseppe Garibaldi. In fact, he named his son after Garibaldi. Ross was also a prolific author, and wrote books on a number of topics. One of these books was “Recollections and Experiences of an Abolitionist from 1855 to 1865,” published in 1876, which contains moving accounts of his experiences. He provided the Grants a copy. Ross had a penchant for writing to notable people, and requesting that they address a letter to his young son Garidaldi in response. In 1880, he wrote Ulysses S. Grant, asking whether he had read Ross’s book on his experiences as an abolitionist, and that he return a response to the son. What he is elicited was a joint letter, containing characterizations of slavery subscribed to by both Grant and his wife, something absolutely unique. That letter has been lost to time and history, until we discovered it very recently.

Autograph letter signed, Galena, Ill., September 11, 1880, to 7-year old Garibaldi Ross, in which he starts out sweetly. “My Dear Young Friend: In looking over my letters, preparatory to leaving this place for the winter, I find one from your father, Dr. Ross, written November 10, 1879, which I know I have not answered because I find the envelope in which I sent this already addressed by him. You must excuse my seeming neglect because I would not neglect even a little boy only seven years old intentionally.”

He then continues with a response meant for Dr. Ross, which contains the letter’s historic characterization of slavery. “Now give my kindest regards to your father, and say that although I had no time to read his book at the time he presented it, yet Mrs. Grant had, and did read it, and when she got through, although she had been raised in a slave state, and always owned slaves – as her father did – while slavery existed in our country, she said she could not see how it was possible that any body ever justified such an institution. Hoping that you may grow to be a strong, healthy man, and justify the fondest expectations of your parents in your future career.”

Grant cites with approval his wife’s only recorded denunciation of slavery. Moreover, it is clear that in the mind of the Grants, Mrs. Grant had, indeed, owned slaves. And there is an emotional aspect to this letter as well, as it demonstrates regret over how anyone, themselves included, could have justified the owning of slaves at any point.