Pete Grady in “Unconditional Surrender: The Life of U.S. Grant" at the Rock Island Public Library Downtown Branch -- April 25.

Tuesday, April 25, 2 p.m.

Rock Island Public Library Downtown Branch, 401 19th Street, Rock Island IL

Recounting the experiences of one of the Civil War's most successful Union generals and the 18th President of the United States, the Rock Island Public Library's Downtown Branch presentation Unconditional Surrender: The Life of U. S. Grant will, on April 25, find re-enactor Pete Grady portraying Grant in a program that the Civil War Heritage Foundation's Greg Wolk deemed "a riveting performance" that's "well scripted and perfectly delivered."

Raised in Ohio, Grant graduated 21st in the class of 1843 and served with distinction in the Mexican-American War. In 1848, he married Julia Dent, and together they had four children. Grant resigned from the army in 1854 but joined the Union Army after the Civil War broke out in 1861, and rose to prominence after winning several early Union victories on the Western Theater. In 1863, he led the Vicksburg campaign that gained control of the Mississippi River, dealing a serious strategic blow to the Confederacy, splitting it in two. President Abraham Lincoln consequently promoted him to lieutenant general after his victory at Chattanooga, and for 13 months, Grant fought Robert E. Lee during the high-casualty Overland Campaign and at Petersburg. After Lee fled Petersburg, Grant defeated him at Appomattox, and on April 9 of 1865, Lee formally surrendered to Grant. A week later, Lincoln was assassinated and succeeded by Andrew Johnson, who promoted Grant to General of the Army in 1866. Later, Grant openly broke with Johnson over Reconstruction policies, and used the Reconstruction Acts – which had been passed over Johnson's veto – to enforce civil rights for recently freed African Americans.

A war hero drawn in by his sense of duty, Grant was unanimously nominated by the Republican Party and was elected president in 1868. As president, Grant stabilized the post-war national economy and supported Congressional Reconstruction, and he appointed African Americans and Jewish Americans to prominent federal offices. In 1871, Grant created the first Civil Service Commission, advancing civil service more than any prior president. The Liberal Republicans and Democrats united behind Grant's opponent in the presidential election of 1872, but Grant was handily re-elected. And although modern historians have been critical of his administration's scandals, they have also largely emphasized his two-term presidential accomplishments, including the prosecution of the Ku Klux Klan; his treatment of blacks as both human and American; his innovative Native American policy; and his peaceful settlements of the Alabama Claims and controversial 1876 presidential election.

As Iowa Humanities stated, Unconditional Surrender: The Life of U.S. Grant "features period music, photographs and cartoons as Grant reviews his life – an informative, humorous and touching portrayal of the victorious General whose strategy and tenacity won the Civil War, the President who struggled to rebuild his nation after the war and the husband and father whose final efforts were devoted to the financial support of his wife and family."

The historic figure is portrayed by the program's author Pete Grady of Marshalltown, Iowa, who has presented shows at the Iowa Veterans Home, the State Historical Museum of Iowa, the Missouri History Center, and the Minnesota History Center. He has adapted the show for performances in a university theatre, community theatres, movie theatres, hotel and restaurant dining rooms, public libraries, civic and community meeting halls, a refurbished country church, on the front porch of a home once owned by a Union veteran of the Civil War, in an outbuilding of the Hitchcock House (a station on the Underground Railroad), and even around a roaring campfire for a Boy Scout Troop.

Brady will perform Unconditional Surrender: The Life of U. S. Grant at the Rock Island Public Library's Downtown Branch on April 25, participation in the 2 p.m. event is free, and more information is available by calling (309)732-7323 and visiting RockIslandLibrary.org.

Support the River Cities' Reader

Get 12 Reader issues mailed monthly for $48/year.

Old School Subscription for Your Support

Get the printed Reader edition mailed to you (or anyone you want) first-class for 12 months for $48.
$24 goes to postage and handling, $24 goes to keeping the doors open!

Click this link to Old School Subscribe now.



Help Keep the Reader Alive and Free Since '93!

 

"We're the River Cities' Reader, and we've kept the Quad Cities' only independently owned newspaper alive and free since 1993.

So please help the Reader keep going with your one-time, monthly, or annual support. With your financial support the Reader can continue providing uncensored, non-scripted, and independent journalism alongside the Quad Cities' area's most comprehensive cultural coverage." - Todd McGreevy, Publisher