While the material focuses principally on the Civil War, it also offers something of a coming of age story of Grant himself. Here he is as a youngster in Ohio, his father, Jesse, by his side. 2/pic.twitter.com/oqoZCqL8af
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While the material focuses principally on the Civil War, it also offers something of a coming of age story of Grant himself. Here he is as a youngster in Ohio, his father, Jesse, by his side. 2/pic.twitter.com/oqoZCqL8af
As one would expect of any good hagiography, the authors relate Grant's rise through the ranks of the military and his heroic service on the front lines of the Mexican-American War. Here's a scene of the Battle of Palo Alto. 3/pic.twitter.com/Ddc4Xx4jzf
On the whole, though, the booklets devote most of their attention to Grant's leadership during the Civil War, providing a play-by-play of major battles and turning points. Here's Grant training the 21st Illinois Infantry early into the war. 4/pic.twitter.com/C5T2d4PuAU
Here's a harrowing portrait of the hardship accompanying the long campaign for Vicksburg. 5/pic.twitter.com/jaFabxP4Au
Here's Grant closing in on defeated Confederate soldiers at Lookout Mountain outside of Chattanooga. 6/pic.twitter.com/WhlRTmac4S
Here's Lee's Army on the run from Grant during the Overland Campaign. 7/pic.twitter.com/4fHAmFc7Ks
Not surprisingly, considerable ink is also devoted to Grant's counterpart, Robert E. Lee. On the lefthand page is a face-off between the leaders of North and South, with Lincoln and Grant to the left and Davis and Lee to the right. 8/pic.twitter.com/rhPjJiaDN8
Naturally, Appomattox looms large in their account. Here's their portrayal of surrender—a moment of capitulation that would be played out by the US and Japan aboard the deck of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay not 70 years later. 9/pic.twitter.com/YDh4AyjHx8
One of the more dramatic illustrations is of the assassination of Lincoln. Obviously, the depiction of a stabbing (not a shooting) and a group (not a lone assassin) speaks to the limits of the sources available and/or the artistic liberties taken. 10/pic.twitter.com/NFTyDsTdsk
Much of the rest of the material concerns Grant's world tour, casting him (and his wife Julia) as a beam of light on a civilizing mission across the globe. Here I'd be remiss not to point out that Japan was in the midst of styling itself a colonial power in Asia. 11/pic.twitter.com/9Br4d6QKaF
It's hardly surprising that the authors would take pains to distinguish a civilized, industrial Japan from the rest of Asia. Here, for example, is a scene of Grant & co. being feted by Meiji era high society. 12/pic.twitter.com/jCmiGSaNXP
In many respects, the document reads as a celebration of US-Japan relations. For Japan, a freshly forged nation still enduring paroxysms of civil unrest (e.g. the Satsuma Rebellion) the story of Grant and the US Civil War had perhaps more salience than we fully appreciate. 13/pic.twitter.com/KXTdrBDFRr
The entire three-volume publication, entitled 格蘭氏伝倭文賞, has been digitized by the good folks at the Waseda University Library. Non-Japanese speakers needn't fret; just click on the thumbnail and a pdf download option will appear. http://www.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kotenseki/html/bunko11/bunko11_a0470/index.html …
Cc: @HC_Richardson @KevinMKruse @TheTattooedProf @KevinLevin @USGrantNPS @USGrantLibrary @MarkRavina
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