The six hour miniseries is best taped, so one can zip past all of the commercials, and learn about Ulysses S. Grant and his role in American history and how he won the Civil War and presided over Reconstruction, an experiment in democracy that went badly wrong. It is not hard to imagine that had Lincoln not been assassinated, history might have turned out much differently with Grant playing a more winning hand than he was dealt. The series pulls no punches in dramatizing just what a horror the Civil War was and the tremendous losses on both sides. When Grant successfully participates in the Mexican American War of 1848, alongside other officers who would soon work for him and against hime, his career seems on an upward trajectory, but he get sidelined into an obscure post in Fort Humboldt California with nothing to do, and he becomes melancholy, and turns to drinking, which forces his commanding officer to force Grant to resign. He returns to civilian life and does poorly, until the Civil War breaks out and he is given a commission once again to lead a regiment as a brigadier general. From there it is mostly one successful battle at a time, until he is promoted to major general and given command of all of the western army. From there he successfully launched a successful attack in the heart of the south at Vicksburg, with some of the most brilliant strategic maneuvers in the history of armed warfare. For that he gets promoted to three star general and put in command of the entire Union Army. Aside from a couple of notable failures, one a major defeat at Cold Water Virginia, Grant eventually corner's Lee's Army of Northern Virginia while General Sherman takes Atlanta, thus forcing a surrender at Appomatic. A major triumph is followed one week later by the assassination of Lincoln and history makes a major course correction. Andrew Johnson is a southern sympathizer and thwarts every attempt by Grant to take control over southern whites who are slaughtering freed slaves. Not until Grant becomes president, can he put a stop to this and put down the KKK. Grant as president though, because of his lack of guile, is undermined by subordinates who are corrupt, and America is by now tired of the reconstruction efforts in the south. When Grant leaves office, the KKK is on the rise again and reconstruction is basically a failure which has lasting repercussions to this day. Grant's image is later tarnished by southern historians who attempt to rewrite the history of the Civil War by painting it as a states rights issue and not about slavery. Grant comes accross as a villain. This miniseries tries to put this story right and to a large extent it succeeds. Grant is one of those great leaders who is about as straightforward as they come. His only apparent weakness is in sticking with subordinates who didn't deserve his trust, and he made some political moves as president that were regretful like not stamping down the KKK once and for all. The comments from historians throughout the series were very helpful and insightful. The acting was accomplished and the war scenes were realistic. This was a very worthwhile effort to try and put the record straight about Grant.
