A PROFILE OF GRANT BY THE MAN WHO PORTRAYS HIM

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. Mark Griffith of Clarksville, Tenn., says Civil War general and President Ulysses Simpson Grant was the first military officer to fight a modern war.

Griffith said that is because of developments in weapons, science and technology that changed old European battlefield tactics. Because of the advancements, it expanded the size of the battlefield, he said.

Griffith, 36, speaks with authority on Grant; for the past five years he's portrayed the role of the Union Army general at reenactments of Civil War battles and skirmishes from Shiloh, Tenn., to Gettysburg, Pa., and Appomattox, Va.

This weekend Griffith will don the uniform of a Union brigadier general and bring the role of Grant to life at the reenactment of the Battle of Belmont in southeast Mississippi County.

Griffith said he became interested in the history and lore of the War Between the States as a child.

Said Griffith: "The war was actually fought on our own ground. Many of my ancestors fought on both sides. Just about anyone who lives in this area had ancestors who fought in the war. I grew up listening to stories of the battles that were fought in west Tennessee.

"Grant has not been fairly or accurately portrayed by many historians," said Griffith.

To prepare for his role as the Union general who didn't know the meaning of turning back, Griffith has studied Grant's memoirs and other personal papers and those of his associates, including Gens. William T. Sherman and Phil Sheridan.

"One of the first things people ask me about is Grant's reputation for heavy drinking. It's been blown way out of proportion by his military and political enemies," said Griffith. "He drank, and he did drink to the level of being intoxicated, but he did it out of boredom. When he was involved in planning or conducting a military campaign he would not touch the stuff."

Griffith said Grant's use of alcohol came about while he was on the western frontier. "From his letters we know that Grant was a devoted family man; he loved them very much and missed his wife and children," Griffith said.

"He did not become the first three-star general in the United States since George Washington, or the first four-star general in the history of the United States and later its 18th president, by being an alcoholic."

Griffith said Grant was not afraid to fight. When critics demanded President Lincoln fire Grant because of huge Federal casualties, the president is said to have replied: `I can't relieve him. This man fights.'"

Grant graduated from West Point in the middle of his class. But until the war began, he did not demonstrate any of the military characteristics and qualities for which he earned the famous nickname "Unconditional Surrender."

In fact, his overall appearance and manner throughout the war was so unassuming that many subordinates, upon seeing him for the first time, could not believe he was the commanding general of the Army.

"Grant was not afraid to change his tactics and innovate when something didn't work," Griffith said. "He also sought and valued the opinions of his subordinates. He collected as much information as possible before making a decision. And once he made a decision, he stuck with it."

Griffith said an example of this is the campaign that led to the siege and fall of Vicksburg. When Grant couldn't float his army on steamboats past the Confederate shore batteries at Vicksburg by trying to divert the Mississippi River, he moved his troops through the northeast Louisiana swamps and crossed the river a short distance below Vicksburg.

From there, Grant and his men began the march that led to the fall of Vicksburg, which cut the Confederacy in half.