Bill Ferraro speaking before a packed house
at the Charlottesville Senior Center Wednesday.
Regular listeners of our podcasts might know Rick Britton. He’s an award-wining historian and cartographer and a frequent guest on WINA’s Charlottesville Right Now with Coy Barefoot. Rick also organizes a Civil War lecture and day-trip series in conjunction with the Charlottesville Senior Center. On Wednesday, May 18, 2011 Bill Ferraro —a former Editor with the Papers of U. S. Grant— delivered a fascinating talk on the life and military career of General Grant.
Bill Ferraro
Born in Ohio in 1822, and an 1843 graduate of West Point, Grant finished the Mexican War as a captain with citations for gallantry and meritorious conduct. After leaving the Army in 1854, he worked hard but nonetheless failed at a number of civilian undertakings. In the Civil War, however, Grant rose steadily in the ranks —from Colonel to General-in-Chief of the Armies— and, after coming east to take on Robert E. Lee and his seldom-bested Army of Northern Virginia, demonstrated his great inner strength and an iron-willed determination to grind down Confederate forces: two qualities sorely missing in previous commanders. Who was this successful Western General? Listen to find out why.
This is part two of a six part series for 2011. You can listen to all six parts of this series here.