Summary

Chapter 25 serves as the beginning of Part III and presents the beginnings of Reconstruction and Grant’s role in the process. As General-in-Chief, Grant oversaw a post-war drawdown of the Union military and the creation of small garrisons to support Reconstruction. Before long, it became clear that President Johnson was primarily interested in pleasing white southerners. Though he resented the planter class, he was even more racist against freedmen and did little to help them. More troublingly, he turned a blind eye to the violence perpetrated by whites against their former slaves. This was abetted, in part, by a overly rosy report that Grant issued on violence in the South. The one exception to Johnson’s policy of appeasement was his attempt to try Lee for treason, which Grant resisted by threatening to resign until the President relented. While conducting his official duties...