The narrative covers from Grant's birth, his days at West Point; his courtship and marriage, his experiences during the Mexican war, and his subsequent time as a civilian before his comeback as a soldier during the Civil War.

    On 10/16/1859 John Brown & 17 of his followers seized the armory & arsenal at Harper's Ferry. They'd counted on an uprising of the slaves. There was no uprising. On 12/2, Brown was hanged after a fair trail. To certain Northern zealots he was a martyr; to Allan Nevins he was a victim of his own reasoning insanity.The Union had not long to live. In the following summer Southern hotheads bolted the Democratic convention at Charleston that nominated Stephen A. Douglas for President. When America went to the polls, Douglas faced not only Abraham Lincoln, but also the hotheads' favorite John H. Breckenridge, & John Bell, the candidate of the Constitutional Unionists. South Carolina's response to Lincoln's election was immediate. On 12/20/1860 the Palmetto state was the first to secede from the Union. With illustrations.