General Grant

Matthew Arnold

Jan 1995 · Kent State University Press

About this ebook

"The editor has placed the dispute between Arnold and Twain in its historical perspective. The volume is especially significant because it adds a new dimension to Grant; it places him in relation to the literary men of that era."--Robert A. Waller, Civil War History General Grant by Matthew Arnold with a Rejoinder by Mark Twain presents conflicting essays and cultures. Matthew Arnold's 1886 essay on Grant praised the general and his posthumously published Memoirs, but to many Americans its tone seemed patronizing of their hero and country. Grant's friend and personal benefactor, Mark Twain, delivered a caustic rejoinder to the Army and Navy Club of Connecticut in April 1887. Thus Arnold became a pet prejudice of Twain's and may have served as an inspiration for A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. In this volume, Twain's rejoinder is published in a correct text for the first time since the Hartford Courant printed his speech.

About the author

Civil War scholar John Y. Simon was born in Highland Park, Illinois on June 25, 1933. He received a B. A. from Swarthmore College and an M. A. and Ph.D. in history from Harvard University. He taught at Ohio State University before becoming a member of the Southern Illinois University history department in 1964. During his 34 years there, he taught courses on the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the history of Illinois. He also wrote and edited numerous books about Lincoln, Grant, and the Civil War. Beginning in 1962, he started editing the papers of Ulysses S. Grant, which comprised of thousands of documents and annotations, and set a new standard for the organization of historical documents. In 2004, he received a Lincoln Prize for his work. He was nearing completion of this project when he died on July 8, 2008.