Remember these words

Poputonian at Hullabaloo had a great post comparing Ulysses Grant to Reagan (very general description from me of the post), but even better were the comments [and not my minor contribution]. Grant, of course, in reality is a far greater American than most that have trod the now 50 states, including Reagan -- no matter what some trifling poll states.

While possessed of his own personal demons and ill fortune that harmed him in life outside of his time as a victorious General, Grant was certainly not a great President, beset with scandal caused by advisers that were crooked. However, he was not as bad as often portrayed by late 19th century historians that looked down upon policies he followed that enforced the rights of freed blacks. This is discussed quite well here.

But one thing is certainly true of Grant, he had a penetrating intelligence and a remarkable lack of ego for someone that rose so high in military glory -- a tradition that we've been lucky with in America, from Washington to Grant to Eisenhower. No where is Grant's intelligence more on display then in the memoirs he wrote late in life, having been defrauded, once again, by people he had trusted. Grant's memoirs are available on line here.

And within those memoirs comes this trenchant and telling statements that work so well even today (as it always has) when it is cast upon the 101st Keyboarders:

For myself, I was bitterly opposed to the measure (War with Mexico), and to this day regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation. It was an instance of a republic following the bad example of European monarchies, in not considering justice in their desire to acquire additional territory.

There were no possible means of obtaining news from the garrison, and information from outside could not be otherwise than unfavorable. What General Taylor’s feelings were during this suspense I do not know; but for myself, a young second-lieutenant who had never heard a hostile gun before, I felt sorry that I had enlisted. A great many men, when they smell battle afar off, chafe to get into the fray. When they say so themselves they generally fail to convince their hearers that they are as anxious as they would like to make believe, and as they approach danger they become more subdued. This rule is not universal, for I have known a few men who were always aching for a fight when there was no enemy near, who were as good as their word when the battle did come. But the number of such men is small.

The wisdom of those statements about the start of the Mexican-American War, when looking at the Chicken Hawk policy-makers of the Bush Administration today is startling.